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Figma prototype (1)
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Figma protoype (2)
Inspiration
Our team was inspired by the current conditions of the healthcare field and our belief that things can be improved both for patients and doctors.
We decided to tackle two main issues: overwhelming wait times and accessibility in healthcare for marginalized and underrepresented groups.
First, we observed within the world, and especially in Canada, wait times were astronomical at hospitals. In Ontario alone, the average time someone will spend in a hospital is 19+ hours including registration and checking in. This is something that deters people from accessing services they need at hospitals. Furthermore, this lengthy process restricts access to valuable hospital beds that people need. We wanted to build an app that relieves the strain on hospitals in regards to this problem, by implementing a virtual queue system to allow people breathing room during their hospital visits, and ultimately a more efficient way to spend their time there.
Second, this problem is further exacerbated for marginalized groups. Historically, these groups such as women, the LGBTQIA+ community and BIPOC have been discriminated against within the healthcare industry. According to Medical News Today, doctors in emergency departments were less likely to admit Black and Latinx children to hospitals and classify them as needing emergency care compared to their white peers. Gay men are still not allowed to donate blood in many places, and the ban was only very recently lifted in Canada. This all shows how hard it is for marginalized groups to properly access the same level of healthcare that more privileged groups are able to. We wanted to connect marginalized groups with healthcare professionals of similar backgrounds that are able to understand and tackle struggles that they specifically face. Not only will this make the process of seeking out healthcare less daunting to those who have faced discrimination within the healthcare industry, but also provide them with an improved experience overall.
Ultimately, what NovaHealthDate aims to do is provide a more streamlined and accessible experience universally. Our app addresses global issues such as increasing accessibility to healthcare and lessening discrimination faced within the industry.
What it does
Healthdate aims to connect patients with nearby health professionals that best fit their needs and allows the patient to find local hospitals and join a virtual queue for their emergency services, informing in real time their expected wait time. This solves many issues with todays medical field such as better patient-doctor communication and saving people hours on end that otherwise would've been spent at an office.
How we built it
Healthdate was first built by creating a prototype on figma. After this prototype was done the team went ahead to create a full functioning design using HTML and CSS. This was done on various services such as vscode, riplet, codepen, etc in order to share our work amongst the team.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Although we faced challenges, thankfully our team was able to come together and overcome a lot of our hurdles. For example for many of us in the group it was our first time using some of the software involved in creating a project. This meant that we were learning as went and everyone on the team was able to learn a new skill and pitch in to make the project successful.
What we learned
- We learned how to code with HTML and CSS to create a visually appealing front-end.
- We also learned to use figma to create a prototype.
- We learned to collaborate with new people through a virtual space.
What's next for NovaHealthdate
In the future, we'd like to implement the back-end to our app as well. Other ideas we'd like to implement include a live tracking system, where we can connect directly to the hospital and receive information to display such as how many beds are available, what appointments can be made and which doctors are on shift.
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