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Coding
Inspiration
Personal Family Experience Imagine this you come from a foreign-speaking family and have to translate everything that is in English into that foreign language, but the twist is; you aren't fluent. Well, I found myself in this situation, but one moment stood out: my grandma came up to me handing me a medicine bottle and asked, "What does this do?" although I knew what it did do, I couldn't communicate it to her. That moment made me realize how difficult and dangerous language barriers in healthcare can be, and inspired me to build MediScan. (Don't worry I am learning Vietnamese)
What it does
Product Description MediScan is a web application that allows users to scan or upload images of medicine labels, automatically translating, and simplifying the information into their native language. It detects the text using OCR, translates it, and provides clear explanations for complex medical terms, helping non-native English speakers understand what they're taking and why.
How we built it
I built MediScan as a side project until I found out the hack4health competition using: React for the frontend interface, Tesseract.js for optical character recognition (OCR) to extract text from images, Google Translate API for multilingual translation, Used Multiple Medical APIs to simplify complex medical terms into plain language
Challenges we ran into
The hardest part was definitely the OCR Integration Integrating the OCR accurately to analyze different types of medicine, Translating terms Translating medical terms while preserving accuracy and clarity, Building UI Build the responsive and intuitive UI in a limited time, Translation API accurately Ensuring translations remain culturally sensitive and medically accurate. These problems took me hours to even figure out, but at the end of the day I finished!
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Since this was suppose to be a side project, I am definitely am pleased that I completed this project in such a short amount of time (In my standards) (2 weeks), Developing a working MVP in a short timeframe, Successfully translating complex drug labels into multiple languages, Creating MediScan Creating a tool that addresses a real-world issue affecting millions, Helping my family Helping my own family understand their medication more safely and confidently
What we learned
I learnt a lot in this project, but the most important was the Integration of APIs how to integrate multiple APIs and technologies (OCR, translation, React) in one full-stack project, Importance of UX Learning the importance of UX when working with diverse and multilingual users, Real-world application of empathy in tech, building for people, not just functionality, How critical language is accessibility is in healthcare
What's next for MediScan
I fell in-love with this project midway into making it, expect changes like More Languages Expanding language support and adding more dialect-specific phrasing, Building a mobile version Using React Native for more accessibility, Adding more functionalities Adding speech-to-text and audio translation for elderly and visually impaired users
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