By Carolyn Boston, June 18, 2020 — BlueJeans is the name of Penn Medicine’s virtual teleconferencing system. The first time I used it I was amazed at how simplistic it was and I was very, very thrilled with being able to use it. My first teleconference was with my primary doctor. The fact that I wasn’t waiting in the outside office for a long time was refreshing. Plus, there was no need to make the long, tedious trip to the office. I could wait online if she was running late and sip on a cup of tea until she was onscreen. I appreciated the convenience of being at home and felt very relaxed as opposed to the stress I experience getting there.
My second virtual visit was with my hip surgeon; that was a piece of cake. We finished in less than 10 minutes. I only waited for 15 minutes for him to come onscreen. The last time I was in his office I waited over an hour and he was so busy that he was unable to see me or the other people that had been waiting for almost two hours. So, I was able to return home, but I was very frustrated because you have to wait almost a month or so to see him.
This time his attendees got him out of his last visit, he jumped on the screen, we talked, and our visit was over. It was great. I really applaud the new technology. In my opinion, teleconferencing is here to stay, and kudos for all the work that IT and everyone else is doing to make life much easier and better for all of us who have doctor’s visits and really; if we’re not suffering extremely, we can avoid having to do long trips. So, I really enjoyed being on their teleconferencing system and I’m looking forward to seeing my doctors in the future on that same system. It was a breeze.
