Comments on: In Sickness and in Health: A Rocky Relationship with the Health Center http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157 UT's News Source Since 1933 Sun, 20 May 2012 10:54:57 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: bobby http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157#comment-77 bobby Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:31:14 +0000 http://theminaretonline.com/?p=6157#comment-77 What i really don't get is how they would diagnose someone with a flu telling her not to leave her room and wear a mask when close to people for a week, when she asked if it was swine flu, she didnt get any clear answer... she was prescribed a meicine for swine flu though, felt completely normal the day after she started the medication, and they had her stay with her 2 other roommates, not even contacting her roommates or advising them what to do.. What i really don’t get is how they would diagnose someone with a flu telling her not to leave her room and wear a mask when close to people for a week, when she asked if it was swine flu, she didnt get any clear answer… she was prescribed a meicine for swine flu though, felt completely normal the day after she started the medication, and they had her stay with her 2 other roommates, not even contacting her roommates or advising them what to do..

]]> By: Keri http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157#comment-62 Keri Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:47:37 +0000 http://theminaretonline.com/?p=6157#comment-62 Thank you for conceding my point. UT paid that much to the contractor, TEAM, who then pays the staff and NPs at the health center. The staff and practitioners have no control over how much money they receive or how much they charge the students. I have also been a patient at the Health Center and received great service and an accurate diagnosis. I'm sorry for your disappointing experience. I think your $5,241,771 error trumps my use of the word epidemic. I would be more scared of a pandemic since that means the disease is now spreading over a much larger region, worldwide for instance. I was very impressed with your use of the word cavalcade...kudos to you. Thank you for conceding my point. UT paid that much to the contractor, TEAM, who then pays the staff and NPs at the health center. The staff and practitioners have no control over how much money they receive or how much they charge the students.

I have also been a patient at the Health Center and received great service and an accurate diagnosis. I’m sorry for your disappointing experience.

I think your $5,241,771 error trumps my use of the word epidemic. I would be more scared of a pandemic since that means the disease is now spreading over a much larger region, worldwide for instance.

I was very impressed with your use of the word cavalcade…kudos to you.

]]> By: Peter http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157#comment-61 Peter Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:56:01 +0000 http://theminaretonline.com/?p=6157#comment-61 "...but the University does not pay any money directly to the Health Center" If they don't pay any money directly to the health center, then they are laundering a lot of money to someone noted on their tax filings as "health center contractor." My $6 million number was pulled from a back file of memory, and was wrong by a digit. The actual file indicates that they paid $758,229 in 2007 (the last available/public year) for the health center. That's about $150/student to be told you're pregnant or have mono, on top of the $250/student you pay in tuition for their health insurance through United Healthcare. Regardless of my lack of a PhD, I believe I am allowed to criticize NPs for their cavalcade of wrong diagnoses that I've experienced as a patient. And to clarify -- you are incorrect about the "current flu epidemic." Last year it was declared a pandemic, a step or two below full "everyone freak out" status assigned to an epidemic. No need to scare anyone more than you already have. “…but the University does not pay any money directly to the Health Center”

If they don’t pay any money directly to the health center, then they are laundering a lot of money to someone noted on their tax filings as “health center contractor.” My $6 million number was pulled from a back file of memory, and was wrong by a digit. The actual file indicates that they paid $758,229 in 2007 (the last available/public year) for the health center. That’s about $150/student to be told you’re pregnant or have mono, on top of the $250/student you pay in tuition for their health insurance through United Healthcare.

Regardless of my lack of a PhD, I believe I am allowed to criticize NPs for their cavalcade of wrong diagnoses that I’ve experienced as a patient.

And to clarify — you are incorrect about the “current flu epidemic.” Last year it was declared a pandemic, a step or two below full “everyone freak out” status assigned to an epidemic. No need to scare anyone more than you already have.

]]> By: Keri http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157#comment-59 Keri Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:34:56 +0000 http://theminaretonline.com/?p=6157#comment-59 Most primary care physicians are not able to treat patients the same day either, especially if you do not go first thing in the morning. I know from experience that the UT Health Center will see you immediately if you arrive in the morning to early afternoon, between 8 am and 2 pm. You did not specify what time you arrived at the Center, but you mentioned 4 pm as the time in which their administrative staff was already “pissed or tired or disrespectful”. If this was the time you sought treatment, but your symptoms were that persistent on Tuesday morning, why did you wait until 4 in the afternoon to get treated? Any professor would have accepted your absence from class given your symptoms and the current flu epidemic. It’s just as much the patient’s responsibility to minimize contagion effects and manage their illness while waiting for treatment as it is the doctor's or nurse practitioner's responsibility to treat you as soon as possible. That being sad, there are numerous walk-in clinics in Tampa, at least one I know of within walking distance of UT that you could have visited if necessary. To Peter – I’m not sure where you received your information, but the University does not pay any money directly to the Health Center. They are contracted through a private company with no affiliation to the university to provide health services at UT. I have heard that the staff has been lobbying for a larger facility and more funding to increase staff and capacity. Your qualms should be with the university and/or the contractor to provide more funding, which would allow the Center to increase their capacity and see more patients daily. And unless you have a PhD, I don’t think you have any room to criticize a nurse practitioner (who in most cases has just as much, if not more, hands-on training and experience as a general practice doctor does) or their diagnoses. Most primary care physicians are not able to treat patients the same day either, especially if you do not go first thing in the morning. I know from experience that the UT Health Center will see you immediately if you arrive in the morning to early afternoon, between 8 am and 2 pm. You did not specify what time you arrived at the Center, but you mentioned 4 pm as the time in which their administrative staff was already “pissed or tired or disrespectful”. If this was the time you sought treatment, but your symptoms were that persistent on Tuesday morning, why did you wait until 4 in the afternoon to get treated? Any professor would have accepted your absence from class given your symptoms and the current flu epidemic. It’s just as much the patient’s responsibility to minimize contagion effects and manage their illness while waiting for treatment as it is the doctor’s or nurse practitioner’s responsibility to treat you as soon as possible. That being sad, there are numerous walk-in clinics in Tampa, at least one I know of within walking distance of UT that you could have visited if necessary.

To Peter – I’m not sure where you received your information, but the University does not pay any money directly to the Health Center. They are contracted through a private company with no affiliation to the university to provide health services at UT. I have heard that the staff has been lobbying for a larger facility and more funding to increase staff and capacity. Your qualms should be with the university and/or the contractor to provide more funding, which would allow the Center to increase their capacity and see more patients daily. And unless you have a PhD, I don’t think you have any room to criticize a nurse practitioner (who in most cases has just as much, if not more, hands-on training and experience as a general practice doctor does) or their diagnoses.

]]> By: Peter http://theminaretonline.com/2009/10/01/article6157#comment-57 Peter Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:42:24 +0000 http://theminaretonline.com/?p=6157#comment-57 Please note that you did not, in fact, see a doctor at the health center. Unless there has been a major change, there are no doctors at UT's health center. They are nurse practitioners (NPs) and do not have the education or training that doctors have. For the roughly $6 million that UT pays the health center each year, they should certainly be able to do a lot better than spinning the "wheel of diagnoses" (pregnancy, mono or tonsillitis) for everyone who walks through the door. They dispense antibiotics for non-bacterial infections, which will not result in improvement. Please, please, go see a real doctor at an office in Tampa or the ER. Please note that you did not, in fact, see a doctor at the health center. Unless there has been a major change, there are no doctors at UT’s health center. They are nurse practitioners (NPs) and do not have the education or training that doctors have. For the roughly $6 million that UT pays the health center each year, they should certainly be able to do a lot better than spinning the “wheel of diagnoses” (pregnancy, mono or tonsillitis) for everyone who walks through the door. They dispense antibiotics for non-bacterial infections, which will not result in improvement. Please, please, go see a real doctor at an office in Tampa or the ER.

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