The problem Maester on duty solves

Our project aims to create a transparent blood donation ecosystem to ensure timely patient care. Through this platform, donors can register and provide details about their blood type, location, and availability. Hospitals and blood banks can then access this information to quickly locate suitable donors in their vicinity. The system will incorporate real-time updates on blood inventory levels, donation events, and urgent requests. Additionally, it will facilitate communication between donors and recipients, fostering a sense of community and accountability. By promoting transparency and efficiency, our platform aims to bridge the gap between blood supply and demand, ultimately saving lives and improving healthcare outcomes. Our project is creating a website to make it easy for people to donate blood and help patients quickly. Donors can sign up and say when they're available to give blood. Hospitals and blood banks can then find donors nearby easily. The website will also show how much blood is available in real-time and if there are any urgent needs. It will also let donors and patients talk to each other. Our goal is to make donating blood straightforward, make sure there's enough blood for patients, and save lives by getting blood to those who need it fast.

Challenges we ran into

During the development of our blood donation platform, we faced several challenges that required creative solutions and diligent effort to overcome. Firstly, managing our database proved to be a significant challenge. With a large volume of donor information, hospital details, and real-time inventory updates, ensuring data integrity and scalability was crucial. We spent considerable time designing an efficient database schema and implementing indexing and caching mechanisms to optimize performance. Secondly, implementing secure user authentication and authorization was paramount. Protecting user data and ensuring that only authorized individuals could access certain features of the platform required robust authentication mechanisms and encryption techniques. We implemented features such as two-factor authentication and role-based access control to enhance security. Additionally, providing real-time updates and notifications posed its own set of challenges. Delivering prompt and reliable updates on blood inventory levels, donation events, and urgent requests across different devices and platforms required the implementation of push notifications and WebSocket technology. Integrating geolocation features was another hurdle we encountered. Enabling donors, hospitals, and blood banks to accurately locate nearby facilities while respecting user privacy and ensuring geolocation accuracy presented its own set of challenges. We worked diligently to implement geolocation services with proper permissions and user consent mechanisms. Designing an intuitive and user-friendly interface was also challenging. Catering to the diverse needs of donors, hospitals, and blood banks while maintaining a consistent design language required extensive user testing and iterative design improvements.