Hi guys, I have an idea for a new service that I am hoping to get some feedback on. This is also for a class, so any help would be appreciated.

I proposed an idea for a company called ShotClock in which parents subscribe to the website for a nominal fee in order to receive e-mail reminders about when their children need an immunization shot as they are needed.

In the e-mail they are told what shot is needed and what it is for. Also, the subscriber is given a map of local doctors offices that are compatible with their insurance company. Hopefully if this became an established service, subscribers could even sign up for an appointment online.

The other end of this service is that a follow-up e-mail is sent to the subscriber where they either fill out or indicate that their child received the immunization. Also where and when. This information is then aggregated on the ShotClock website so that parents can view when their child's shot history easily and in one place.

I feel like this would be a lot easier than hoping to remember when each shot is needed. It will also help in the long run if the user forgets when they had their last tetanus shot, or the phone number of the doctor they received it from. It would also put parents of multiple children at ease too to have a separate history for each child.


What I am asking the O-Review is to hopefully give me any feedback on this idea. I am open to any and all suggestions and don't be shy in harshness. If you think it is a stupid idea, just say it. If you think it needs work in a certain aspect, or that I am overlooking something, please tell me. I am obviously not a parent so I have no idea if I am forgetting something or over-simplifying anything. This is for my final project in a major-related class, so anything would be appreciated.

Also, if you could tell me if you are a parent or not I would appreciate it since it would elevate my/your credibility when taking suggestions.


Thank you all so much.

Usually children up to 18 have yearly checkups, with infants and toddlers on a regulated monthly or so schedule. During those times, the doctor has records of what shots have been administered and what needs to be done. Usually it's not the parent's responsibility to remember when the shots are due, just to get the child to the doctors every year or when scheduled, and whatever needs to be done, is done. For adults that go to the doctor on their own schedule, they may need to remember when to get a tetanus booster, but that's every ten years, so the website might be a little stale between uses.

Idea is good, but perhaps choose another topic to implement the same methodology.

Justin, I agree with Dan. I have 3 kids and their immunization needs are kept by the physician and he lets us know when they are due, along with the school. That said, if you used the same kind of model and set it up where a parent could enter all their kids scheduled activities and it would generate an email each day that includes the what's on tap, that would be useful.
For instance, if I could input my son's baseball schedule, my daughter's tennis and dancing classes, and my other daughter's track obligations, and then receive or access a daily list of who has to be where, I think that would be worth using. The immunization aspect could also be integrated in it. I realize that there are scheduling programs to handle this, but if it is web-based, it could be accessed by anyone with the login and password. So grandparents or extened family could view it. Just an idea....

See, thats the kind of insight that I needed.

Thanks for the ideas guys, I appreciate your help.

David's idea is good. You should be able to take the process you're defining, and simply alter the context to make it work without starting from scratch. If you need any techy details about how a site like that would work (not sure how nitty-gritty they want it, or if it's more business oriented), let me know. I'll see if I can write something up.

i agree with the other guys. i think its an awesome idea to have an online shot record. i don't know about many other states, but working in an ER i see that our generation, many people don't have a primary care physician, and in turn have med records all over the place. i'm not sure about other professions but in the health field you need a TB test every year, and be immunized against HEP A and B. being able to pull up a valid shot record will help from getting shots that aren't needed and a friendly reminder when their TB test is due or when they need to get another immunization from a series

I believe it is a good idea but with all of the Government mandated healthcare automation going on globally - that is something that is being tied into as an automated part of your health service provider.

Also, as healthcare moves more into the workplace (on-site healthcare) it will continue to become more automated from that aspect as well...

Here's my 0.02, I'm not a parent.

Building on what Nik said, instead of targeting it to parents, could you target it to the providers (i.e. a connected all-in-one patient database for what you describe).

Repeating Dann's question, is your project conceptual, like a business model, or technical, like the actual computer implementation?

Its a mostly conceptual, but has some technical aspects. We built a mock-up of the website and even made a ZenCart for it. I'm just looking for some feedback on the idea and from what it seems like, its a decent concept but could be applied to other areas. Thanks for the feedback guys, and I appreciate the help with the technical aspects.