Early-Stage Development of a Handwritten Prescription Interpretation App for Bangladeshi Citizens

Bushra Rahman, Afsana Rubyat, Mohammad Faiyaz Uz Zaman, Nabarun Halder, Ashraful Islam, M. Ashraful Amin

Abstract: In Bangladesh, handwritten prescriptions remain the conventional method of medical documentation, posing major obstacles to accurately interpreting medication information. Due to the diverse styles of handwriting, these handwritten prescriptions are often difficult to understand, which can put the patient’s health at risk. This study presents a novel approach to digitizing handwritten prescriptions using the User-Centered Design (UCD) methodology to develop a mobile application for Bangladeshi citizens. This innovative solution helps Bangladeshi citizens improve access to clear and reliable medication information, reduce errors, and encourage safer healthcare practices. Research objectives include conducting design requirements, need-finding analysis, and developing a high-fidelity prototype. A survey involving a total of 155 participants, in which the insights of the participants were recorded for the features and design requirements of the app to ensure that the app meets the essential requirements of potential users. This process led to the design of a low-fidelity paper-based prototype alongside a high-fidelity digital version. The participants expressed their difficulties in reading handwritten prescriptions independently and their inability to understand the names of the medications and the dosage instructions. Participants preferred features such as daily medication reminders, medication names and dosages, automatic scanning of prescription labels, chat, and voice commands to interact with the Relational Agent, and guidelines for using the app. Using these insights, our high-fidelity prototype, “PresCa”, incorporates key features such as prescription scanning, scanning guidelines, report summary, Relational Agent, check reminder, and configure medicine reminder.