I tend to be somewhat pessimistic about many/most efforts to replace traditionally “human” activities w/ technology - such as phone answering systems instead of human receptionists. Over the past week, I had a tele-dr visit - which was a joke, and my wife has had incredible difficulty scheduling a routine blood test.
I’m not trying to beat up on the medical profession/industry - just expressing my observation as to one area in which the quality of “virtual” service impresses me as worse that “in person.” I think that virtual schooling is also less effective for the many students who are ill-prepared to flourish in such an environment (for various reasons.)
I was hoping the teeming millions could educate me as to areas in which the new, virtual activities and services are at least as good, or an improvement over previous practices.
I note that I do not personally make use of home food delivery services and the like, so I am unaware of whether such services have improved. Doing my particular job via phone is definitely more cumbersome and results in lower quality results than previously.
Wait times in the doctors and veterinarian office/exam room have been significantly reduced imo. I took my cat to the vet and when I saw the full parking lot I thought it was going to be a long wait. Still had to call from my car, confirm I had a mask and was met at the door by staff. Once inside was directed to a waiting space. The vet came out we talked about care, she took the cat into exam room while I waited. About 10 minutes later it’s time to check out. Unheard of I usually spend upwards of 15 minutes waiting in the exam room for tech to check in, then another 5-10 for the vet.
The doctors office too, the office waiting room took forever at least 20 minutes to get called back. Idk what they’re doing differently but it’s very welcome.
Wait times, perhaps. Our vet was never bad at that. But our recent experiences w/ the vet was that the service was less desirable - talking w/ the vet over the phone, not being present and seeing our new pup come out w/ poor behaviors, etc. Not arguing - just our experience.
I love our teladoc. I threw out my back a couple of years ago and was able to call in from bed and have them proscribe me muscle relaxers. My wife went to pick it up and I never left my bed. I wouldn’t use it for my annual physical but when you are sick enough that leaving the house is a chose it is a great solution. Of course that isn’t COVID driven.
ON the COVID front delivery options in my town have improved greatly. We used to have domino’s and that was it as a delivery option. Doordash and the others ignored my town as too small or just gave it crappy service. At the start of COVID we tried one of the big one and they picked a driver from a town almost an hour away to pick up our food and didn’t notify the drive to come get it until the food was ready. So our food was delivered 90 minutes late by a surley drive who complained to me about how far he had to drive. About a week later a local company started a similar service just focusing on our town and we can now get 2 different pizza companies, 4 burger places, ice cream and 2 deli’s delivered. I’m hoping they will add in some of our mexican and asian options soon but they are still growing. The lack of delivery was the major downside of where we live and now I can get a quart of ice cream delivered for $7 total.
Our grocery store had changed to focus on the pick up orders with a dozen spots in front of the store reserved and a well built app. We’ve converted over to doing that almost exclusively and it cuts down shopping time by 30-45 minutes. The downside is we don’t get to pick our produce and there is a $250 dollar cap so we can only shop one week at a time but beyond that it’s been great.
Glad to hear some things are appearing in some places. My teledoc appt was just to get a longtime/minor rx refilled. The doc was clearly winging it, looking thru my file as we spoke, asking me incorrect stuff about when my parents died and such. Plus his finger is so much more comfortable than my cellphone!
Maybe in person he is winging it as well, and just does a better job of faking it. But I was left with the impression that I would have been able to misrepresent my condition and/or that he might have lacked the ability to observe something he might have noted through observation. At the very least, in an in-person annual they record vital stats, and are able to listen/palpate/observe.
I had a teledoc appointment with my urologist, which was both faster and kept him from wanting to poke anywhere. It was a follow up. I have my INR checked every six weeks, and that is better since the waiting room is empty. Parking is bad since they closed the underground garage to limit access to the clinic to the front door where they take your temperature.
Not quite a service, but the Writers’ Club I’m webmaster for has a meeting with a speaker every month. We do it on Zoom now, and the advantage is that we can get speakers who might not want to travel to our location. It is popular enough that many people want at least some Zoom meetings even after we can meet again.
So, in general lots of people who were not familiar with teleconference type meetings have now learned their advantages.
Interesting. Yeah, I can see how virtual would allow contact to more “famous” people. In several situations, the ability to see them virtually would outweigh the lack of physical proximity.
Doesn’t work w/ my main interest - bluegrass/oldtime music. I’ve always reveled in the accessibility of worldclass pros at concerts, clinics, jams, etc. Not nearly the same on-line.
The DMV! It takes longer in calendar time to get an appointment, but they are only taking appointments and scheduling only as many people as they can handle so that the waiting room doesn’t get crowded. Efficient appointments.
Our kids’ doctors appointments have gotten better in terms of better infection control. It always seemed crazy to me that they put toys in the waiting room where sick kids will play with them. The waiting room is no longer used for waiting, and the office now schedules all “wellness check-up” appointments in the morning and all sick kid appointments in the afternoon. Why didn’t they always do that?!
My teledoc appointment was awesome! It actually probably was the same before covid but I didn’t need to use it until a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t MY doc, it was a doc I called through my insurance (for free) at midnight on a Friday. I was suffering from hives and my face blew up, and I needed Prednisone. He listened to me, assured me it wasn’t covid, had the RX ready for me at my pharmacy in the morning, and kept me from a long night in the emergency room.
Another thing that existed before covid that I never tried before covid was the self scan shopping at the grocery store. I mean the deal where you pick up a hand scanner and scan & bag your own groceries as you go. It’s a teensy bit more annoying than regular shopping where you just throw stuff in your cart without care. But imagine…IMAGINE…getting done with shopping and being all tired and not only do you not need to stand in line to check out, you don’t have to wait for the cashier to scan and bag your shit, you just pay and GO. Holy smokes, it’s all sorts of awesome.
I see at Wal Mart and the grocery store that a lot more focus is put on delivery pickup like @Oredigger77 noticed too. I’m sure that service has improved. My friend uses it (grocery and Wal Mart) and she absolutely loves it.
