Fixing Doctor Discovery by Designing a Scalable Specialisation System
Designed and implemented a structured taxonomy to fix fragmented doctor discovery caused by inconsistent hospital-defined specialisations.
Overview
Problem
Users discovered doctors through specialisation categories on the homepage. Hospitals added doctors using custom titles such as:
- Pediatrics
- Pediatrics & Neonatology
- Pediatric Neurology
- Neonatology
These were stored as separate specialisations. This fragmented discovery: • Same medical field appeared as multiple categories • Doctors were split across duplicate specialisations • Users had to check multiple categories to find relevant doctors Problem worsened as more hospitals were onboarded. The system was not scalable.
Root Cause
The platform lacked a standardized specialisation structure. Specialisations were stored as hospital-defined titles with:
- No standard taxonomy
- No mapping between related specialisations
- No structured discovery layer
This worked initially but broke at scale.
Solution
Designed and implemented a structured specialisation taxonomy. Key changes:
- Created standardized main specialisation categories
- Designed mapping system linking doctor titles to main categories
- Preserved original hospital-defined doctor titles
- Migrated and mapped all existing doctors
- Updated onboarding flow to enforce structured mapping
This enabled accurate and scalable discovery.
My Role
- Identified the discovery scalability issue independently
- Designed the taxonomy and mapping approach
- Defined main specialisation structure
- Worked with engineers to implement database and logic changes
- Migrated existing doctor data and validated correctness
Solution was co-designed and implemented with tech leadership.
Impact
- Eliminated duplicate and fragmented specialisations
- Improved doctor discovery clarity for users
- Enabled scalable onboarding of hospitals and doctors
- Strengthened foundation for platform growth
Without this fix, discovery quality would degrade as the platform scaled.
Why This Mattered
- Doctor discovery is the primary entry point for booking in ZappQ
- Fragmented specialisations made it harder for users to find the right doctors
- This directly affected booking confidence and usability
- Without fixing this, discovery quality would degrade as more hospitals were onboarded
- This solution ensured the platform could scale reliably without breaking core user flows