QuRe | Devpost

Inspiration

As college students and members of a generation that was raised on technology, we are in many ways dependent on the Internet. We need our Internet to function well so we can complete schoolwork, which has been integrated into the Internet, as well as consume entertainment. The Internet isn’t just part of our lives — it’s key in a medical emergency. A patient’s health records can make a huge difference treatment outcomes. Emergency responders need to know about a patient’s preexisting medical conditions and drug allergies to effectively treat them. However, EMT’s may not have the time or technology access to a lightning fast Internet connection to access those records. It would be particularly problematic when dealing with unconscious or severely impaired patients. We often see QR codes used as promotional material — a fast and easy way to get someone to look at a website. But at their core, QR codes are a method of storing information that is easily accessible. We believe that for all the convenience that the Internet provides, it should not make a difference in the quality of emergency care.

What it does

QuRe is a tool utilized to improve response time speed for emergency personnel. With a simple scan, a QuRe tattoo gives access to a plethora of detailed patient information to be referenced at a moment’s notice during an emergency.

How we built it

Our QR scanner was constructed using advanced Java in Android Studio. Also we made our own QR code system that can store lots of data with less size.

Challenges we ran into

We had to figure out how to simplify the data encoded with the QR code to minimize the bytes used and size of the QR tattoo, particularly the date of birth, which could be used to determine the age. Ultimately we determine the best option was to reduce the DOB to simply the year represented by just the last 2 digits, as the month and day were not crucial pieces.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Before we met during MedHacks, we had never interacted with each other. Through the collaborative power of programming, the QuRe Team was brought together for one goal: to improve patient quality of care. As we generated our pitches and bounced ideas off each other, we realized we had more in common than we had previously thought. We bonded over our enthusiasm for hacking and medicine to bring to life our idea for a more efficient, effective system for providing emergency care to patients caught in crises, allowing physicians to act with greater haste and avoid the use of improper medication.

What we learned

We all come from significantly backgrounds — our majors are bioengineering, computer science, biochemistry and math, and computer engineering. One of the key components of MedHacks was bringing together disciplines to solve problems in the medical world, and we’ve learned a lot about the value of interdisciplinary collaboration. All of us bring different things to the table, and we learned a lot from each other. Those who didn’t come from a computer science background learned about what goes into building the tech solutions that we often take for granted. All of us had the opportunity to learn how to code in Javascript to some degree. Those of us who did come from a computer science background were able to learn more about the medical world, and why we need programming solutions to solve these kinds of problems. All too often these sides are often considered distinct from each other, and we have learned how to cross that bridge and more effectively communicate. We also learned the value of criticism while designing our graphics. All of us had different ideas about what our logo and designs should look like, but we all were able to listen to each other and take feedback to improve the designs. The end product is a representation of our group effort.

What's next for QuRe

In order to improve treatment outcomes and expand the accessibility of QuRe, we hope to increase our reach to make emergency treatment as effective as possible for everyone. By converting the data into a universal data, we strove to represent the data as purely numerical to overcome language barriers that often make communication between patients and doctors difficult. Our system was designed to provide basic medical information encoded within a simple tattoo, but we hope we can add more information to further improve treatment. We also seek to collaborate with doctors and medical insurance companies to create secure databases tailored for precision treatment. Despite the differences in medical knowledge treatment between doctors, clinics, and hospitals, and inequity in patient outcomes, we hope QuRe will be able to improve treatment quality for everyone.