Modernizing a hospital management application for Eye-Q: One of the largest chain of eye care hospitals in India

The Daffodil team initiated the project by thoroughly understanding our target audience: patients seeking efficient access to eye specialists and healthcare professionals looking for a platform to manage their appointments. Following the principles of design thinking—empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test—we aimed to grasp the challenges faced by our users.

Team Daffodil interviewed more than 4 medical practitioners in order to understand their struggles with appointment management and gathered insights on important features. Notably, our team found that doctors often face difficulties scheduling appointments, especially during emergencies, and lack flexibility in customizing their clinic timings.

To understand the patient’s viewpoint, we engaged with our client’s customers, identifying issues with traditional appointment booking and gathering feedback on features that could enhance their experience. Patients, particularly those with busy schedules, shared challenges in securing immediate appointments, enduring long queues, and adapting to unexpected commuting obstacles.

This approach provided us with a clear understanding of the client’s user expectations, laying the groundwork for a well-defined project roadmap.

Following the research phase, our expert business analysts carefully analyzed the application requirements, crafted user stories, feature lists, process flow diagrams, and clickable prototypes for the web portal.

With the roadmap solidified, the Daffodil team initiated the development of a web-based appointment booking system using .NET Core,  Blazor, WebAssembly, and SQL server. The system was purpose-built for three key users: patients, doctors, and super admin.

Super Admin Panel

Within this appointment booking app, the admin panel serves as the center hub, providing users with administrative rights the capability to oversee, regulate, and optimize diverse facets of the hospital system.

Let’s delve into the key features that define the functionality of the super admin panel:

Dashboard insights:

Upon entering the admin panel, users are greeted with a dynamic dashboard offering a holistic view of the hospital system. It provides real-time insights into upcoming appointments, cancellations, past appointments, and rescheduled appointments.

Content management system:

The admin panel incorporates a content management system (CMS), allowing administrators to enrich the patient homepage with relevant content. This may include informative blogs, articles, or exclusive health-related posts contributed by healthcare experts.

Permissions management:

The super admin holds the reins of permissions management, dictating roles and access levels. This granular control extends from overseeing appointments to monitoring audit logs.

Centre management:

Admins can seamlessly manage and add new hospital locations, fostering organizational efficiency. This feature extends to the creation of location clusters, an approach to grouping doctors from the same area.

User management:

The admin panel streamlines the management of user accounts and profiles. This includes user registrations, access control, and account verification, contributing to the establishment of a secure and reliable user base.

Doctor management:

Admins can effortlessly manage and update essential information such as specialties, qualifications, availability, pricing, and location. The panel facilitates the onboarding of new doctors, verification of credentials, and the maintenance of an up-to-date directory of healthcare professionals.

Hospital staff management:

Beyond patients and doctors, the admin panel extends its reach to the management of hospital staff accounts. This includes roles such as receptionists and nurses, catering to the diverse staffing needs of different locations.

Appointment management:

Admins wield complete control over appointment scheduling and management. The panel provides an encompassing overview of all appointments, allowing admins to view, reschedule, or cancel appointments as needed.

Availability management:

Recognizing the flexi nature of doctors’ schedules, the admin panel streamlines the process of updating and maintaining their availability. Admins can efficiently manage time slots, block specific dates, and make adjustments based on doctors’ schedules or holidays.

Notifications and reminders:

Admins exercise full control over configuring and customizing notifications sent to users. This spans appointment reminders, important announcements, and general updates.

Audit logs:

The admin panel also incorporates an audit logging system. They can track all changes made within the system, discerning which entities initiated specific modifications and when these changes occurred.

Designation management:

Within the admin panel, there exists a designated area for managing all roles within the hospital. This includes designations such as Medical Superintendent, Medical Director Retina, CFO, and more. Admins can efficiently add, modify, or remove designations, ensuring clarity in roles and responsibilities.

Patient Panel

The patient panel within the platform is designed to provide patients with a smooth healthcare experience, ensuring they have the tools they need at their fingertips. Let’s explore the key features that define the functionality of the patient panel:

Patient profile:

Patients are encouraged to build a complete profile by providing essential demographic details such as name, phone number, address, and insurance information. They also have the flexibility to add family members, facilitating appointment bookings for their loved ones.

Appointment booking:

The patient panel offers a user-friendly interface for appointment booking. Patients can choose their preferred doctor from a curated list, utilizing search filters based on doctor specialty, price range, and time availability.

Appointment management:

Patients have convenient access to their upcoming and past appointments. The panel empowers them to cancel or reschedule appointments as needed.

Payment options:

The patient panel simplifies the payment process by offering multiple options, including credit card, debit card, and UPI. After a successful transaction, patients can download an invoice for reference during their visit.

Location tracking:

To enhance accessibility, each hospital center is equipped with a unique QR code. Patients can effortlessly scan the code, redirecting them to Google Maps for precise navigation to the hospital’s location.

Customer support:

We integrated patient support module, offering efficient assistance via email. Patients receive timely notifications related to their booked visits. The admin panel plays a crucial role in handling user inquiries, troubleshooting issues, and providing assistance, contributing to overall user satisfaction and loyalty.

WhatsApp integration:

For swift responses and added convenience, we’ve integrated appointment booking through WhatsApp as well. The integrated chatbot assists patients in scheduling appointments according to their preferred time slots and eye specialists, ensuring a seamless patient experience.

Kiosk integration:

The platform embraces technological innovation with Kiosk integration. Walk-in patients can directly book slots with available doctors without waiting at reception or creating an account on the patient portal.

Doctor Panel

The doctor panel is crafted to elevate the professional journey for healthcare providers. Prioritizing simplicity, efficiency, and personalization, this panel serves as a hub for doctors to easily navigate various aspects of their engagement with the platform.

Let’s explore the key features that define the functionality of the doctor panel:

Seamless login process:

The Daffodil team values user convenience which is reflected in the doctor panel’s login process. Doctors experience a swift and secure entry facilitated by an OTP mechanism, ensuring a hassle-free initiation into the platform.

Holistic doctor profiles:

The panel allows doctors to showcase their expertise through the creation of detailed profiles. Covering certifications, experience, languages spoken, specialties, pricing details, and preferred appointment times, these profiles provide patients with a nuanced understanding, facilitating informed healthcare decisions.

Appointment management:

The Doctor Panel features robust appointment management capabilities, providing doctors with control over their schedules. Doctors can efficiently manage, check, cancel, or view the status of their appointments.

Leave request management:

Doctors can flexibly accept or reject appointments based on their availability. In case of unforeseen circumstances requiring leave, doctors can communicate with the admin, initiating the cancellation of appointments during specific time slots.

Flexible time zone pricing:

This panel also allows doctors to set consultation fees based on their location and time zone. For instance, a doctor operating from Nigeria can dynamically adjust consultation fees in alignment with the local currency value and time zone, ensuring fairness and region-specific pricing.

Check-in system integration:

In addressing a challenge faced by our client in managing patient information, we took a step further to upgrade their check-in system. The existing system used for patient check-ins during visits was outdated, causing patient data to be dispersed and unorganized.

To overcome this, our team revamped the old check-in system and integrated it with the newly developed appointment booking system. This upgrade not only made it easier to access both new and existing patient data but also ensured that information from walk-in patients was smoothly integrated. The result was a more unified and efficient patient management system, addressing the problems caused by having separate data systems.