Medication Guide

Inspiration

As international students, we experienced firsthand the anxiety of getting sick in the United States. When one of us developed a persistent fever during finals week, we faced an impossible choice: pay for an expensive doctor's visit we couldn't afford, or try to navigate the overwhelming medication aisle at the local pharmacy. With unfamiliar brand names and no guidance on what would work for our symptoms, we felt helpless and frustrated. This personal experience made us realize how many other international students face this same challenge—stuck between expensive healthcare and confusing self-medication options. We created Global Medication Guide to solve this problem for the 1.1 million international students studying in the U.S.

What it does

Our Medication Guide serves as a virtual health assistant for international students. Users enter their symptoms, age, gender, and allergies, and our system provides personalized medication recommendations ranked by effectiveness. Each recommendation includes the medication name, type, potential side effects, and links to where it can be purchased. The application also helps locate nearby pharmacies by entering a ZIP code, bridging the gap between identifying the right medication and actually obtaining it.

How we built it

We built this application using FastAPI for the backend and HTML/CSS/JavaScript for the frontend. The system leverages Perplexity API to generate medication recommendations based on user input. For the pharmacy locator feature, we implemented integration with Google Places API to find nearby pharmacies based on ZIP code input. We deployed our application using Vercel for seamless hosting and continuous deployment. The UI was designed with special attention to clarity and simplicity, considering the potential stress users might be experiencing when seeking medication.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was ensuring accurate medication recommendations while providing appropriate medical disclaimers. We had to carefully design prompts for the Perplexity API to generate relevant, safe recommendations while emphasizing that this tool doesn't replace professional medical advice. Another significant challenge was the API integration with Google Places, which required understanding their authentication and request structures. Additionally, parsing the AI-generated responses to extract precise medication information proved complex, requiring robust regex patterns to handle various response formats.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're particularly proud of creating an intuitive user interface that presents complex medical information in an accessible way. Despite the time constraints of the hackathon, we managed to deliver a fully functional product rather than just a prototype or concept. The visual distinction between medication rankings helps users quickly identify the most recommended options, while the pharmacy finder makes it practical to act on those recommendations. Our successful integration of multiple APIs (Perplexity and Google Places) into a cohesive application demonstrates our technical capabilities and problem-solving skills. Most importantly, we're proud that this project addresses a real problem faced by many international students, potentially reducing both financial burden and health anxiety.

What we learned

This project taught us how to responsibly handle health-related information in applications and the importance of clear disclaimers. We gained experience in designing effective prompts for AI systems to generate structured, consistent responses. On the technical side, we deepened our understanding of API integrations, particularly with location-based services, and improved our skills in parsing unstructured text responses into organized, actionable information.

What's next for Medication Guide

Looking forward, we plan to expand the medication database to include country-specific comparisons, helping international students find equivalents to medications they're familiar with from their home countries. We also hope to add multilingual support, making the tool even more accessible to non-native English speakers. Lastly, we want to incorporate a community feature where users can share experiences with different medications, creating a supportive environment for international students navigating healthcare abroad.