Staying healthy is a challenge for students experiencing the typical college lifestyle of eating in dining halls and living in dorms. Washing hands and exercising can only go so far to ward off the occasional cold or flu, adding to the importance of university provided health services.

While offering its students a long list of services, Marquette Student Health Service is often booked solid with only seven exam rooms to service a campus of almost 8,000 undergraduates. The long wait times leave some students wondering if they are getting the care they need to stay healthy.

“In a college environment, we often lose sight of our personal health and well-being underneath all of the stresses and commitments that we juggle on a daily basis,” said Dan Tyler, a junior in the College of Business Administration and chairman of the Student Health Advisory Board. “I do not believe that the average Marquette student knows the extent of clinical and preventative services offered by Student Health Services.”

Does SHS pass the test?

In health care facilities across the country, further measures are being taken to increase preventative services such as check-ups, offer more convenient options to student patients and utilize advances in medical technology. Marquette SHS is working toward these goals, but students and health service staff agree there is room for improvement, said Carolyn Smith, senior physician and medical director of SHS.

SHS set an 18-month time frame to implement a strategic plan to make some drastic changes in student interaction with the service, Smith said. Included in this plan are more secure communication abilities between students and SHS via e-mail, as well as increased use of electronic health records and forms. Security is a big concern for many patients and health care professionals, making the possibility of a secure connection essential if SHS is going to communicate with students online.

“This is the way college health is going,” Smith said. “We want to keep up with our peer institutions and what the expectations are in the medical health care system.”

Space and equipment limitations are concerns for Health Service staff, Smith said.

“Our dream is to have more space,” Smith said. “But until then we are looking at a system to make things faster.”

Smith said offering on-site physical therapy could also improve current health services, but it is not possible right now because SHS doesn’t have X-ray equipment. Currently, students are referred to Aurora Sinai Medical Center for these services. SHS is working with the Department of Physical Therapy to make this service available on site in the future.

Prescribed by peer universities

While no one school can claim perfection in the area of student health services, other universities in the Midwest have taken strides to improve convenience and communication within their student health services.

Loyola University Chicago offers programs like Dial-A-Nurse, a hotline students can call for health advice from a registered nurse, and the ability to make appointments online through a secure log-in site.

Diane Asaro, director of the Wellness Center at Loyola University Chicago, said the Dial-A-Nurse program was instituted about three years ago and is designed to help students learn to prioritize what’s important in health care.

“Most students are healthy in their college years and we felt that it would be important to teach students to use services appropriately,” Asaro said. “If you have the stomach flu, you don’t need to walk across campus to be told to drink lots of fluids. Students say, ‘Couldn’t you have just told me over the phone?’ And yeah, we can.”

Approximately 3,000 calls are made to Dial-A-Nurse every semester, Asaro said. The line helps keep the quantity of appointments manageable because it encourages appropriate use of appointments.

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Marquette’s SHS offers a similar call-in program through UnitedHealthcare Insurance. However, few students are aware of it, Smith said.

The call-in program is available to all students, even those who have not purchased the university-coordinated insurance.

“That (telephone) number is available on the (SHS) Web site,” Smith said. “Admittedly, we probably haven’t publicized that very well.”

Jenny Goulee, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she would be willing to try a new program like Loyola’s Dial-A-Nurse service.

“That would be a really convenient service so I think I would use it,” Goulee said.

In addition to freeing up rooms through a call-in service, some universities are allowing students to make their own appointments online.

The University of Wisconsin – Madison has a system called My UHS that helps students create health accounts. Students have the ability to access their own health records and submit health forms most colleges require their students to file.

Marquette’s SHS is upgrading its patient management system next summer, including making health records electronic, Smith said.

“As part of that, down the road there will be the capability for students to make appointments online, but that’s probably still 18 months away,” Smith said.

Student input increases at health services

SHS is currently working to push students to realize and take advantage of the preventative care services and programs available, such as check-ups and physicals. Through the work of a Student Health Advisory Board and the Marquette Center for Health Education and Promotion, students can expect to hear more about preventative and informational health services in the coming semesters, said Becky Michelsen, a health educator for the Center for Health Education and Promotion and adviser to the Student Health Advisory Board.

The Student Health Advisory Board was inactive during the 2008-2009 school year due to staff turnover. Past boards have made recommendations about SHS hours and the student health fee, which has not increased in the last five to six years, Board Chairman Tyler said.

Board meetings are open to the public. There are four at-large positions on the board for interested students, as well as representatives from the Residence Hall Association, Greek Life, International Education, Athletics, Marquette Student Government, the Commuter Student Association, the Graduate Student Organization, a multicultural organization and an off-campus representative.

Tyler said the one improvement he’d make would be to increase SHS’s visibility.

“Eliminating some of the ‘gray area’ associated with student health, I believe, would empower students to take control of their personal health and help them to realize that student health services can be a very powerful asset in that endeavor,” Tyler said.

New this semester to the Student Health Advisory Board, SHS Medical Director Smith was named the physician adviser on Tuesday.

The Center for Health Education and Promotion provides students with prevention education and awareness surrounding campus health issues, while SHS provides a lot of patient education and intervention, said Amy Melichar, coordinator at the Center for Health Education and Promotion.

Opportunities for students to get formally involved are available through the Student Health Advisory Board, the Tobacco Coalition, the Peer Health Educator program and awareness week planning committees, Melichar said.

“Whatever students can do to be consistently informing themselves and taking charge of their own health care is key,” Melichar said. “For a lot of students, however, they don’t realize there is a lot of prevention and comprehensive services they can take advantage of and don’t have to wait until they are actually sick.”