MediCare Doctor Appointment System (Mobile)

MediCare Doctor Appointment System (Mobile) is a Flutter-based patient application connected to the MediCare Doctor Appointment System (Web).

It provides patients with a streamlined mobile experience for:

• Authentication and account access
• Browsing departments and doctors
• Booking appointments
• Managing appointment actions
• Reviewing completed visits
• Saving favourite doctors
• Managing profile and session settings

The application is tightly integrated with the Laravel web administration system, ensuring centralized management of all medical and appointment data.

Target Audiences

Patients

Patients use the mobile application to:

• Browse departments and doctors
• Book and manage appointments
• Review completed consultations
• Save favourite doctors
• Manage their account sessions

Administrators

Administrators manage all mobile-visible data through the Laravel admin dashboard.

Doctors

Doctors receive public visibility through:

• Admin-managed doctor profiles
• Appointment records
• Patient reviews and ratings

Support Staff

Support staff can investigate and manage:

• Appointment issues
• Review moderation
• User-related support requests

Application Structure

The Flutter application uses a tab-based navigation structure optimized for patient workflows.

Core Screens

The application includes:

• Authentication screen
• Home screen
• Doctor details screen
• Appointment booking screen
• Appointment list and details screen
• Appointment reschedule screen
• Favourite doctors screen
• Profile and account management area
• Booking success screen

Home Screen

The home screen is the primary patient landing page after login.

Home Screen Features

The screen displays:

• Logged-in patient name
• Patient avatar (when available)
• Account/avatar popup menu
• Logout action
• Department listings
• Today's appointments
• Paginated doctor listings
• “Load More” functionality for additional doctors

Doctor Details

Doctor details pages display:

• Doctor profile
• Avatar or image
• Designation
• Department
• Ratings
• Review count
• Appointment booking entry point

Favourite Doctor Support

Patients can:

• Add doctors to favourites
• Remove doctors from favourites

Write actions are restricted based on account permissions and demo mode settings.

Favourite Doctors

The favourites system allows patients to save doctors for quick access.

Restrictions

Favourite add/remove actions are blocked for:

• Unverified users
• Demo mode environments

Appointment Booking

Appointment Fields

Patients select:

• Doctor
• Phone number
• Appointment date
• Appointment time
• Message or note

Availability Validation

Before submission, the app checks:

• Appointment availability
• Closed dates
• Weekend restrictions

All validation rules are enforced by the Laravel backend.

Configurable Rules

Administrators can configure:

• Closed appointment dates
• Closure reasons or notes
• Weekend booking restrictions

These rules are shared across:

• Web booking system
• Mobile booking system

Expired closed dates are ignored automatically.

Appointment Features

Patients can:

• View appointment details
• Cancel appointments
• Reschedule appointments
• Submit doctor reviews for completed visits

After every write action, appointment data is refreshed from the API.

Reschedule Appointments

The reschedule screen uses the same availability rules as appointment booking.

Reschedule Workflow

Patients:

1. Select a new date and time
2. Enter a reschedule reason
3. Submit the request

Laravel updates the appointment and appends a new appointment history entry.

Reviews

Patients can review completed appointments.

Review Moderation

Doctor reviews are moderated.

Approved reviews affect public doctor ratings and review summaries.

Booking Success Screen

After successful booking, the application displays a booking confirmation screen.

Patients can then return to the normal application workflow.

Unverified User Restrictions

Unverified users can browse data but cannot perform write operations.

Blocked Actions

• Booking appointments
• Cancelling appointments
• Rescheduling appointments
• Submitting reviews
• Adding favourites
• Removing favourites

Demo Mode

When Laravel demo mode is enabled, all write actions are blocked.

Appointment Availability Rules

Mobile appointment booking follows the same availability rules as the Laravel web module.

Available Appointment Times

• 9:00 AM
• 10:00 AM
• 11:00 AM
• 12:00 PM
• 1:00 PM
• 2:00 PM
• 3:00 PM
• 4:00 PM

Validation Rules

The application prevents:

• Selecting past dates
• Selecting past times for the current day
• Booking on closed dates
• Weekend bookings when disabled
• Double-booking the same doctor at the same date and time

Cancelled appointments do not block future availability.

Server-Side Enforcement

The Laravel API is the source of truth for all validation rules.

Mobile-side validation improves user experience but does not replace backend validation.

Laravel API Dependencies

The mobile module depends on the following API endpoints:

Authentication APIs

• POST /api/login
• POST /api/register
• POST /api/logout
• GET /api/me

Core Data APIs

• GET /api/departments
• GET /api/doctors?page={page}&limit={limit}
• GET /api/appointments
• GET /api/appointment-availability

Appointment APIs

• POST /api/appointments
• POST /api/appointments/{appointment}/cancel
• POST /api/appointments/{appointment}/reschedule
• POST /api/appointments/{appointment}/review

Favourite Doctor APIs

• GET /api/favorite-doctors
• POST /api/favorite-doctors/{doctor}
• DELETE /api/favorite-doctors/{doctor}

Admin Data Dependencies

Most mobile-visible data is maintained through the Laravel administration panel.

Dependency Mapping

Departments

Drive the department listings on the home screen.

Doctors

Drive doctor cards and doctor detail pages.

Doctor Reviews

Drive rating summaries and review displays.

Appointments

Drive patient appointment history and scheduling.

Appointment Availability

Controls booking and rescheduling calendars.

Site & Demo Settings

Influence mobile application behavior and restrictions.

User Profiles

Drive patient names, avatars, and account information.