Prescripto

Abstract

The Prescripto is a digital platform that simplifies scheduling medical consultations. It allows patients to search for doctors by specialty, location, or availability and book appointments at their convenience. The system supports secure user authentication, real-time updates, and online payment integration for consultation fees. Doctors can manage their schedules, view patient details, and track appointments efficiently. Notifications and reminders enhance user experience by ensuring timely updates. By modernizing the appointment process, this system improves accessibility, reduces wait times, and enhances the overall efficiency of healthcare services.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The Prescripto is on the development of a comprehensive application designed to revolutionize the way medical appointments are scheduled and managed. The system provides a user-centric platform that caters to the diverse needs of patients, doctors, and administrators. For patients, the system offers an intuitive interface to seamlessly browse available doctors, filter by specialization and availability, view detailed doctor profiles, and effortlessly book appointments online. The integration of a secure online payment gateway ensures convenient and secure payment of consultation fees, enhancing the overall patient experience.

For doctors, the system offers a user-friendly dashboard that streamlines their workflow. This dashboard empowers doctors to efficiently manage their schedules, view upcoming appointments, track their earnings, and maintain a clear overview of their patient interactions. The system facilitates seamless communication between doctors and patients, fostering a more collaborative and personalized healthcare experience. Furthermore, the application incorporates a robust administrative panel that provides administrators with the necessary tools to effectively manage doctor profiles, oversee platform operations, monitor user activity, and ensure the system's smooth and secure functioning.

The development of this doctor appointment system aims to address several key challenges within the healthcare industry. By streamlining the appointment booking process, the system aims to reduce waiting times for patients, improve patient satisfaction, and enhance the overall efficiency of healthcare service delivery. The system also aims to improve communication and coordination between patients and doctors, leading to better patient outcomes and improved healthcare quality. Through the successful implementation of this innovative system, we aim to contribute to a more accessible and efficient healthcare ecosystem that benefits both patients and healthcare providers.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

1) Linda V. Green, Sergei Savin (2007): "Reducing Delays for Medical Appointments: A Queuing Approach", Operations Research, Volume 56, No. 6, ISSN 0030-364X.

This research demonstrates the usefulness of queuing models in identifying patient panel sizes for medical practices implementing "advanced access" policies.

2) Johanna Hirvonen (2007): "Effect of Waiting Time on Health Outcomes and Service Utilization", National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, ISBN 978-951-33-2032-4.

The researcher analyzes the impact of waiting time on patients undergoing total hip or knee replacement.

3) Diwakar Gupta, Brian Denton (2007): "Appointment Scheduling in Health Care: Challenges and Opportunities", IIE Transactions, Volume 40, ISSN 0740-817X.

This paper summarizes key issues in designing and managing patient appointment systems for health services.

4) Linda V. Green (2008): "Using Operations Research to Reduce Delays for Healthcare", Tutorials in Operation Research, Informs, ISBN 978-1-877640-23-0.

This paper discusses the reasons for delays in patient treatment and presents operational research methods to reduce these delays.

5) Zhu Z. C., Heng B. H., Teow, K. L. (2009): "Simulation Study of the Optimal Appointment Number for Outpatient Clinics", International Journal of Simulation Modeling, Volume 8, No. 3, ISSN 1726-4529.

This study explores appointment scheduling systems in outpatient clinics to determine the optimal number of appointments per session, based on different performance indicators and consult room configurations.

6) Devon M. Herrick, Linda Gorman, John C. Goodman (2010): "Health Information Technology: Benefits and Problems", National Center for Policy Analysis, ISBN 1-56808-203-7.

This book discusses the involvement of information technology in healthcare sectors in the United States.

7) Srividya Bhat, Nandini S. Sidnal, Ravi S. Malashetty, Sunilkumar S. Manvi (2011): "Intelligent Scheduling in Health Care Domain", International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Volume 8, Issue 5, ISSN (online) 1694-0814.

This paper integrates distributed healthcare services in a multi-agent environment to improve Quality of Service using the Java platform, developing a framework for efficient scheduling of patient-doctor meetings in both routine and emergency services.

8) C. Kavitha, A. Venkat Ramana, S. Sushma Raj (2012): "Embedded Management System for Out Patient Department", International Journal of Embedded Systems and Applications (IJESA), Volume 2, No. 3, DOI: 10.5121/ijesa.2012.2305.

The authors propose an embedded system to help patients easily locate a doctor's cabin by displaying the patient's name and token number outside the consultation room.

9) G. Mageshwari, E. Grace Mary Kanaga (2012): "Literature Review on Patient Scheduling Techniques", International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering (IJCSE), Volume 4, No. 03, ISSN 0975-3397.

This paper describes challenges and techniques in patient scheduling, exploring options with Multi-agent Systems, Distributed Computing, and Coordination.

10) Neelu Puri, Anil Gupta, Arun K. Aggarwal, Vipin Kaushal (2012): "Outpatient Satisfaction and Quality of Health Care in North Indian Medical Institute", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 25, Issue 8, DOI: 10.1108/09526861211270631.

This paper addresses the need to monitor healthcare quality and patient satisfaction for continuous improvement.

11) Dr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Dr. Sudhinder Singh Chowhan (2013): "Patient Waiting Time: Its Impact on Hospital Outpatient Department", International Journal Of Scientific Research, Volume 2, Issue 3, ISSN 2277-8179.

This paper highlights how patient waiting times impact hospitals, identifying sequential movements and eliminating unnecessary delays in the OPD section.

12) Dr. Sandesh Kumar Sharma, Dr. Sudhinder Singh Chowhan (2013): "Patient Survey to Measure the Quality of Care Provided by Health Care Providers in OPD of Tertiary Care Hospitals", Indian Journal of Research, Volume 2, Issue 2, ISSN 2250-1991.

The study investigates the dimensions contributing to hospital management effectiveness, establishing scales that assess the gap between optimal and actual performance perceived by outpatient visits.

13) Fatma Poni Mardiah, Mursyid Hasan Basri (2013): "The Analysis of Appointment System to Reduce Outpatient Waiting Time at Indonesia’s Public Hospital", Human Resource Management Research, Volume 3, No. 1, ISSN 2169-9607.

This research identifies causes of long waiting times for outpatient care in Indonesian public hospitals and provides recommendations to improve the appointment system to maximize resource and capacity efficiency.

III. PROBLEM DEFINITION

To design and implement a real-time booking system by creating an efficient, user-friendly online platform for scheduling and managing doctor appointments, eliminating the need for time-consuming in-person visits.

IV. METHODOLOGY

The proposed system is built using multiple modules:

A. Requirement Analysis

Conducted brainstorming sessions with potential users (patients and doctors) to determine essential features, such as appointment scheduling, user profiles, and notifications. Identified functional requirements (e.g., booking appointments, viewing doctor availability) and non-functional requirements (e.g., system performance, scalability, and security). Chose the MERN stack for its robust ecosystem, scalability, and ease of integration.

B. System Design

The system Architecture Design: Designed a modular, RESTful architecture to ensure smooth communication between the frontend and backend. UI/UX Design: Created wireframes and mockups to visualize the user interface, focusing on ease of use and accessibility for all users. Database Design: Modeled the database schema in MongoDB to efficiently store and manage data, including user details, appointments, and medical records.

C. Technology Stack Selection

Frontend Development: Developed a responsive and dynamic user interface using React.js, employing React Router for seamless navigation. Integrated Redux for state management to handle user authentication and real-time updates efficiently.

Backend Development: Built APIs using Express.js to handle business logic, including appointment scheduling, user authentication, and notifications. Database Integration: Utilized MongoDB as the database to store structured data such as user profiles, appointment details, and doctor availability. Implemented Mongoose for schema design and data validation.

D. Testing and Quality Assurance

Conducted unit testing for individual modules using Jest and Mocha. Performed integration testing to verify smooth communication between the React frontend, Express backend, and MongoDB database. Addressed security concerns, including data encryption and input validation, to prevent unauthorized access and data breaches. Engaged in user acceptance testing (UAT) to gather feedback and improve usability.

E. Deployment and Maintenance

Deployed the MERN application on a cloud-based platform (e.g., AWS, Heroku, or Vercel). Configured the server for production readiness, implementing environment variables and load balancing. Hosted the application using a custom domain for accessibility.

V. RESULTS AND EVALUATION

The Prescripto system successfully streamlines the appointment booking process, enabling users to schedule and manage appointments with ease.  The application demonstrated efficient performance, with minimal response times and secure data handling during testing. User feedback highlighted its intuitive interface and seamless navigation. The integration of payment gateways and notifications further enhanced the overall user experience.

Fig1: Home page

Fig3: Add new doctor

Conclusion

The Prescripto project offers a significant improvement in healthcare accessibility and efficiency. For patients, it provides convenience by enabling 24/7 online appointment scheduling, eliminating the long waits on hold. This empowers patients to take control of their healthcare by scheduling appointments at their own convenience. For healthcare providers, the system streamlines administrative tasks, allowing them to manage schedules more efficiently, Furthermore, the system provides valuable data that can be utilized to analyze patient trends, identify areas for improvement, and ultimately enhance the overall quality of healthcare services. This project demonstrates the transformative potential of technology in modernizing healthcare delivery. By seamlessly integrating technology into the patient-doctor interaction, the system enhances patient satisfaction, improves healthcare provider efficiency, and ultimately contributes to a more accessible and patient-centered healthcare system.

References

[1] Digvijay H, Gadhari, Yadnyesh,P Kadam, Prof. Parinee \"Hospital Management System\", International Journal of Research in Engineering and Applied Management, ISSN:2395-1052,Volume 7,Issue 3,March 2019. [2] Shafaq Malik, Nargis Bibi, Sehrish Khan, Razia Sultana, Sadaf Abdul Rauf \"Mr.Doc: A Doctor Appointment Application System\". International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,ISSN:2278- 0181,Volume 10,Issue 12,2021. [3] Irin Sherly S, Mahalakshmi A, Menaka D, Sujatha R (2016) \" Online Appointment Reservation and Scheduling for Healthcare- A Detailed Study\", International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication Engineering,ISSN:2580-4095, January 2018. [4] Maryam Tufail (2018) \"Online Polyclinic Appointment and Database Management System \", International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, ISSN:7890-9012,April 2019. [5] Malik,Sehrish ,Sultana,Abdul \"Mr.Doc: A Doctor Appointment Application System\". International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security, Vol 14,ISSN:229-243,March 2011.

Copyright

Copyright © 2025 Nalubolu Vaishnavi1, , Navali Pavithra, Nithya Pradhayini S M. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.