Commentary: Schiffert Health Center Overmedicates Students Going in for Checkups
By Suzanne HiggsNews Editor
August 27, 2007
If you’re a student at Virginia Tech then you may have noticed the $290 health fee as part of your charges for the academic year.
But what does that health fee really provide? Adequate health care from Schiffert Health Center or does it only guarantee patients a goody bag of medicine that drugs you until the physicians think you might feel better?
According to its website, Schiffert Health Center’s mission and purpose is “to ensure delivery of high quality, accessible, cost-effective and culturally competent medical care and health promotion for Virginia Tech students.
But just because they have a mission and a purpose doesn’t mean they achieve it.
I have been to Schiffert twice and was unsatisfied with both visits. The first time they told me I had some viral disease that was going around, but the second time, when I had completely different symptoms, they also told me the same thing.
My favorite part about the second visit was that I had signs of Norovirus, which causes stomach flu, but they didn’t test me. They said that if I did have it, then it was gone by now, and the tests took too long anyway. Is that good health care?
The first time I went with my “virus,” I got two different medicines. One that they gave me caused dizziness, and I took a test without really being able to see.
It seems that I’m not the only one that feels this way about Schiffert from the past and the present.
According to the Library Archives, in 1902, Henderson Hall was the infirmary where students would go to get care. Some students then didn’t think it was the best choice either. Someone, probably a cadet, hung a sign in 1907 that read: “All cadets attending sick call do so at their own risk,” according to Virginia Tech Magazine.
Current students also have some dissatisfaction when Schiffert comes to mind. In an anonymous survey given in professor Lazenby’s Media Writing classes last semester, 43 students participated. Only 38 percent of the students were satisfied with the service they received with 70 percent having been previously administered medicine from the health center.
Now, I don’t really have a problem with the service at Schiffert. They usually see me within a timely manner and are pleasant. I have a problem with them guessing what is wrong with me, and then giving me and other students a bunch of drugs. During an appointment, according to the survey, 33 percent of the students received at least two types of medicine, and 42 percent received three to six medications.
One student that took the survey was afraid to even go to Schiffert and commented:
“The fact that I have not gone to Schiffert is based on the horror stories I've heard from those who have. Every person I know of has gone in with one specific problem and has come out with an armful of medications, completely unnecessary to the person. I'd rather go to a hospital off campus.”
Some students were satisfied with service from Schiffert, and I know that this survey only had 43 participants, but these are students’ real opinions, and if you magnify that to the whole campus, how many people would be dissatisfied?
Bottom line is, I don’t like being tranquilized, and I don’t pay money for them to guess what is wrong.
Comments (3)
One time I was sick with a fever for a few days, so I went to Schiffert. They gave me the flu test and said that it was negative, but gave me drugs for the flu which included codeine. A few days later I ended up passing out in the shower and suffered a deep cut to the face. I had to be taken to the hospital. There I found out that I have pneumonia. Needless to say, I was not happy.
Posted by Molly Vaira | August 27, 2007 4:31 PMMolly, I feel for you. It's clear that the quality of health care on campus has not improved in 20 years. I used to get the common "it's a virus and will run its course, just wait". And I separated my shoulder and the x-ray tech handed me a gallon jug of sand to hold with that arm while he x-rayed my shoulder. The pain was so bad I threw up. After a couple of bad experiences, people stop going there...so they wont get included in any survey. It's worse than you think. The school is larger than most towns. It needs more than a country doc and a few nurse practitioners.
Posted by Hokie84 | September 5, 2007 12:36 PM"Its a virus and will run its course" sounds so familiar. Back in 1992 when I was a student at VT I came down with an awful sore throat with nausea and vomiting. It lasted for several days called my professors and told them I would not be able to take my midterms that week and dragged myself down to Henderson. The waiting area was completely packed, and sick kids were sitting on the floor in the halls waiting to be seen. I must have looked especially bad because the nurse took me in immediately...maybe it was because I told her I thought I was going to puke. They took my temp. and said I had a fever of 104.5. The old doctor told me that he thought I had the virus that was "going around on campus." He gave me a shot of something to make my fever go down and some pills (Tylenol with codeine I think) and told me that I should start feeling better in a day or so.
Well, I did get to feeling better and didn't think any more of it until the next summer when I went for a physical for a job and the doctor told me my kidneys were failing. Apparently that "virus" I had the previous winter was probably strep and had RUINED my kidneys. I was sent to a nephrologist at MCV who told me I was going to need a kidney transplant. I had a kidney transplant at age 24 and it lasted 11 years, now I am now back on the list for another one. I had been properly diagnosed and treated by student health services it is very possible that this might not have happened to me.
Posted by 93 hokie | December 19, 2007 2:28 PM