As the fitness app development landscape continues to evolve, innovative projects like PocketPeds are poised to make a significant impact. The University of Maryland's App Development Club has collaborated with PocketPeds, winner of the 12th annual University of Maryland Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (M-CERSI) America’s Got Regulatory Science Talent competition, to bring their groundbreaking app to life.
The journey began when Jiwon Oh, a member of the PocketPeds team, shared her excitement about the upcoming launch: "We can't wait to get the app onto the app store for the public to use. We are super excited that our project idea has turned into something tangible that will help so many parents." Born from the realization that dosing over-the-counter medications for kids can be a daunting task, the PocketPeds app aims to decrease accidental child overdoses on OTC medications by providing individualized dosages based on age and weight.
As the team's mission to simplify children's medicine dosing took shape, they worked closely with the App Development Club at UMD to create a minimum viable product (MVP) using Python, JavaScript, React Native, and FastAPI. The app will store information in SQL and MongoDB databases, tackling the challenge of managing non-uniform data from thousands of over-the-counter medications.
According to Hafsa Anwar, project manager for the App Development Club team, "The inconsistencies in data formatting made it exceptionally difficult to parse and store the information in a universally applicable manner." To overcome this hurdle, the PocketPeds team created a small list of common medications and leveraged DailyMed, a database operated by the National Institute of Health, which allows searching by National Drug Code (NDC). By linking universal product code (UPC) with NDC, the team hopes to match correct product and dosing information.
Once this issue is resolved, the PocketPeds app will be ready for deployment. The collaboration between PocketPeds and the App Development Club marks an important milestone in the project's evolution – turning their idea into a reality that can benefit countless families.
Bill Bentley, M-CERSI co-PI and Fischell Institute director, praised the team: "PocketPeds is the perfect melding of innovation, energy, talent, and social concern that exists among our students. With a working app in place thanks to the App Development Club, the team is energized to enter into our health-related translational ecosystem exemplified by the synergies of the Fischell Institute, Mtech, and MPowering the State."
The App Development Club is a student-run organization that prepares students for industry software development by completing projects for Fortune 500 companies and various groups across campus. The PocketPeds app team included Swastik Agrawal, Eric Wang, Guillermo Mascaro, Ashay Srivastava, and Nishkal Hundia.
The launch celebration was a memorable experience for Anwar: "It was wonderful to meet everyone involved in the PocketPeds project and to witness the collaboration between two distinct disciplines." As the fitness app development landscape continues to evolve, projects like PocketPeds are poised to make a significant impact. With their innovative approach to simplifying children's medicine dosing, they're one step closer to bringing about meaningful change.