A Spark (A Raw Idea of Veterinary Telemedicine)
Our client has been in the pet healthcare industry for quite some time. She thought that there were some pet health problems that were less severe and could be easily solved out on the phone or chat. She contemplated the problem and thought if there were telemedicine apps for humans, then why not there should be a telemedicine veterinary app for pets? And that’s how the idea came out and shaped into a complete platform.
The idea was simple but unique: Pet owners connect with the nearby vets instantly through the app and get a consultation through a chat or video call. In the case of an emergency, the vet would suggest visiting the clinic. Pet owners could add multiple pets and vets to the list and keep the track of their past visits. A vet could also have a track of all his patients and daily income.
COUNTRY
Canada
SERVICE
Mobile development,UI/UX Design
INDUSTRY
Health
Current Problems in Pet Care
According to American Pet Products, in 2019, pet owners spent $95.7 billion on their pets in the US only. In this mammoth figure, around $29.3 billion was spent on Veterinary care and product sales. Most pet owners become a little perplexed when they find any pain or unusual behavior in their pets and run to the veterinary hospital.
It turns out that 80% of the time when people think there’s an emergency problem, it’s not actually that severe. So sometimes vets have to forgo some clients whose pets have critical issues. This problem demands a solution that could help vets to connect with pets who actually need intensive care. Being a Vet, our client saw an opportunity in this; she studied other popular telemedicine veterinary platforms like Anipanion and Petzam.
What Was Our Part
The client gave us the raw framework on the new kind of veterinary clinic for animals and humans. It was us who had to feel in the lines now. It was our part to showcase our technological expertise and convert that amazing idea to a fully working vet app.
UX
As per the client’s requirement, we carried out UX research by asking relevant questions to expert vets and pet owners. At the end of the process, we created a complete user flow.
Developmet
As the platform required multiple apps and panels we had to allocate different teams for the same. Our project manager had some suggestions on the project which the client lauded. We made:
UI
After the client’s approval, it was our UI designers who took the work on their hands. They created low fidelity wireframes and prototypes as per the user flow. As the final design got approved by the client, the design was handed off to the development team.
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Admin Panel (Owner Panel)
We made a beautiful admin dashboard that lets the client know the total enrolled clinic, total pets, and daily earning. We also developed functionality that allows the owner to know all the pet owner information and total visits.
Vet Panel
As per the client’s demand we coded the backend for the vet panel as well. Through this panel, vet experts can keep an eye on their active clients, their pet information, visit logs, earnings, and more. They can also chat or video call through the panel. We made sure that every vet could set their rates as per their expertise in the field.
Vet Mobile App
Our iOS & Android team programmed the native mobile app versions of the vet panel which lets the vets manage their clinic on a fingertip.
Pet Owners’ App
We built feature-rich iOS & Android pet owner apps that allow them to instantly connect with their preferred vet and get quick answers on their Pet’s health.
Features We Included in the Veterinary Telemedicine App
The pet care app we created has tonnes of handy features that allow admin, vet, and pet owners to perform their respective operations effectively.
Admin Panel
Vet (Web panel/ Mobile App)
Pet Owner App
Challenges We Overcame
By and large, for us, it was a great experience working on it. Still, it wasn’t always smooth sailing throughout the project. There were some moments where our developers got stuck. Thanks to their never give up approach, these hurdles were eventually cleared.
As chat and video features required real-time data exchange, we had to reflect upon the suitable technology for that. Initially, we encountered some lagging problems in chat as well as video. To circumvent that issue we decided to use Socket.io in the Nodejs. The result was flabbergasting. It made the chat smooth and video crystal clear.
The client was a little bit concerned about the security of the payment data. We integrated the Stripe payment gateway for receiving secure payments. Also, we ensured that the payment data is only accessible to her.
Screenshots of Apps
Here are the thumb-stopping screenshots of the Veterinary telemedicine app.
Technology Stack