Medication Information Tracker Project
This is an ongoing project to create a web app for keeping track of a user’s medications, including what doctor prescribed them, what pharmacy filled them, and any relevant information about the medications themselves. It also allows users to set refill reminders.
After watching a loved one struggle with remembering what all of their medications were for and who prescribed them, I thought that it would be helpful to have an app to keep track of that kind of information. I designed it so that it was very flexible – the only required field for a medication is its name – allowing users to store as much or as little information as they choose.
I opted for Flask over Django because its lightweight nature makes it extremely flexible, allowing me to use only the components that I need. Since this was only the second project I have used Flask and Jinja on (and my first time using Javascript) developing it has allowed me to expand my knowledge of these technologies.
This is a work in progress, so I expect to add more features (and perhaps give it a prettier front-end!) in the future.
Planning Process
Having never tackled a project of this complexity, I wanted a way of tracking the status of each part of the project. These screenshots show the progress of the project over time.
I mapped out each screen of the project, adding some along the way, when I realized I needed them. The color-coding allows me to quickly assess the progress of each page, ranging from the gray “I have not created this page” to the green “This is done except for making it look pretty.”
Sadly, I did not think to take screenshots of the early stages, so the project is already underway in the initial screenshot.
Application tour
The following screenshots illustrate how the app works and the features that are currently available. Please feel free to take a tour! If you prefer to jump to a specific topic, the tour is split into several sections:
I hope you enjoy seeing the application in its current stage of development!
Home page and adding medications
This starts with a brand-new user and shows how to add medications to her account. It also demonstrates what information the user can provide for each medication, along with showing how to set refill reminders.
Managing medication information
Since their home page only displays a summary of a user’s medications, this demonstrates how to view details for a medication and how to edit the information they have provided for that medication. It also introduces the Manage Medications page, where a user can take certain bulk actions on their medications.
Doctors and pharmacies
In addition to storing information on their medications, users can choose to enter information about doctors and pharmacies as well. This can be done when a user originally enters a medication, but users can also choose to add them directly. This demonstrates how to view a list of doctors/pharmacies, along with how to view and edit detailed information about each entry.
Getting help
One of my pet peeves are applications without good help sections. Therefore, I have written an extensive help section to provide users (and potential users) with support in using the app. While I do not expand every entry here, these screenshots illustrate the breadth of the help section.
User profile page
Lastly, what would an application be without a user profile page? In addition to allowing a user to change their username, display name, email, and password, users can also quickly see what medications they have set refill reminders for (and how far in advance they wish to be reminded.)
