UAlbany's Center for Medical Incompetance
The University Health Center: not so convenient?
April Hathaway
Issue date: 5/5/07 Section: Health
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The University Health Center is supposed to be a place of convenience where students can go to keep healthy; a place that provides quality health care and support. But how helpful is the University Health Center?
Martina Miskovova, 21, is one student who will never go back to the health center after her first couple of visits this year. After waking up with a stiff neck, she decided to see a doctor at the health center. "The doctor told me to turn my head to the right, and then to the left, which I could hardly do," Miskovova said. "Then, right after I did it, he gave me prescriptions for two different medications and sent me away."
A couple of months passed by and she was still having the same neck pain. She decided to give the health center a second try, but ended up seeing the same doctor, who gave her the same medications he did on her first visit. He told her that if she didn't have a fever, he couldn't give her a note to miss classes, and sent her off again.
"My doctor at home explained to me that not all illnesses result in a fever. When I mentioned this to the doctor in the health center, he just shot me a look and ignored it," said Miskovova. "So, after exceeding the allowed number of absences for the semester, I ended up having to drop two classes because my professors didn't want to excuse me without a note from the health center."
According to The Chickering Group, a company that provides students with health insurance, "healthy students generally perform better academically, and do not withdraw from school or take leaves of absence as frequently as less healthy students. Healthy students can contribute positively to student life."
In Miskovova's case, her quest for that healthy lifestyle ended up detracting from her academic performance because of the service she received. "I would rather go to the ER. In my opinion, the doctors in the health center are killers," she said.
Not everyone has had a bad experience with the University Health Center, however. Maureen Kirby, 22, takes full advantage of services offered by the health center. She was having a hard time getting sleep after finding out that an ex-boyfriend had died, so one of the health center's doctors prescribed her some sleeping pills.
She feels the doctors and nurses are knowledgeable and helpful most of the time. "I have endometriosis, a condition that causes painful cramps, and not everyone has understood what it was and I had to explain," Kirby said. "For strep throat, pink eye and colds they were very knowledgeable, though."
According to the Journal of American College Health, the top 10 health problems reported by students this past year are:
1. Back Pain
2. Allergies
3. Sinus Infection
4. Depression
5. Strep Throat
6. Anxiety Disorder
7. Asthma
8. Ear Infection
9. Season Affective Disorder (SAD)
10. Bronchitis
The University Health Center offers psychiatric services, HIV testing, immunizations, laboratory procedures, a Women's Health Clinic, and the "Self-Help Cold Clinic" where students can get non-prescription medications like Tylenol, ibuprofen, nasal decongestants, and cough syrup for free.
The health center even has its own pharmacy, where students can fill prescriptions at no cost, limited to items in stock, with a $200 maximum each fall and spring semester and a $100 maximum in the summer semester. So why are students still going elsewhere for help and medication?
"Even though it's right on campus, it really isn't so convenient. I could just call my doctor, have him call the prescription into CVS, and go pick it up in way less time than it would take to sit and wait for it at the health center," said 26-year-old graduate student Cate Fennessy about using the health center's pharmacy.
She thought the staff at the University Health Center would've been friendlier than employees of a chain pharmacy like CVS, but in her experience, they weren't. "I just felt like I was at a warehouse and they just handed me a bag," Fennessy said. "No one at the health center really seemed to care. I really just felt like a number."
Martina Miskovova, 21, is one student who will never go back to the health center after her first couple of visits this year. After waking up with a stiff neck, she decided to see a doctor at the health center. "The doctor told me to turn my head to the right, and then to the left, which I could hardly do," Miskovova said. "Then, right after I did it, he gave me prescriptions for two different medications and sent me away."
A couple of months passed by and she was still having the same neck pain. She decided to give the health center a second try, but ended up seeing the same doctor, who gave her the same medications he did on her first visit. He told her that if she didn't have a fever, he couldn't give her a note to miss classes, and sent her off again.
"My doctor at home explained to me that not all illnesses result in a fever. When I mentioned this to the doctor in the health center, he just shot me a look and ignored it," said Miskovova. "So, after exceeding the allowed number of absences for the semester, I ended up having to drop two classes because my professors didn't want to excuse me without a note from the health center."
According to The Chickering Group, a company that provides students with health insurance, "healthy students generally perform better academically, and do not withdraw from school or take leaves of absence as frequently as less healthy students. Healthy students can contribute positively to student life."
In Miskovova's case, her quest for that healthy lifestyle ended up detracting from her academic performance because of the service she received. "I would rather go to the ER. In my opinion, the doctors in the health center are killers," she said.
Not everyone has had a bad experience with the University Health Center, however. Maureen Kirby, 22, takes full advantage of services offered by the health center. She was having a hard time getting sleep after finding out that an ex-boyfriend had died, so one of the health center's doctors prescribed her some sleeping pills.
She feels the doctors and nurses are knowledgeable and helpful most of the time. "I have endometriosis, a condition that causes painful cramps, and not everyone has understood what it was and I had to explain," Kirby said. "For strep throat, pink eye and colds they were very knowledgeable, though."
According to the Journal of American College Health, the top 10 health problems reported by students this past year are:
1. Back Pain
2. Allergies
3. Sinus Infection
4. Depression
5. Strep Throat
6. Anxiety Disorder
7. Asthma
8. Ear Infection
9. Season Affective Disorder (SAD)
10. Bronchitis
The University Health Center offers psychiatric services, HIV testing, immunizations, laboratory procedures, a Women's Health Clinic, and the "Self-Help Cold Clinic" where students can get non-prescription medications like Tylenol, ibuprofen, nasal decongestants, and cough syrup for free.
The health center even has its own pharmacy, where students can fill prescriptions at no cost, limited to items in stock, with a $200 maximum each fall and spring semester and a $100 maximum in the summer semester. So why are students still going elsewhere for help and medication?
"Even though it's right on campus, it really isn't so convenient. I could just call my doctor, have him call the prescription into CVS, and go pick it up in way less time than it would take to sit and wait for it at the health center," said 26-year-old graduate student Cate Fennessy about using the health center's pharmacy.
She thought the staff at the University Health Center would've been friendlier than employees of a chain pharmacy like CVS, but in her experience, they weren't. "I just felt like I was at a warehouse and they just handed me a bag," Fennessy said. "No one at the health center really seemed to care. I really just felt like a number."