I've visited this place multiple times for numerous reasons, and there are a lot of pros and cons…read more To put my review in context, I should note that after participating in a focus group on Student Health Services (SHS), I found that some of my experiences at SHS are common while others are not.
STAFF
The non-medical staff are a mixed bag. Not particularly nice, not particularly mean (though they can be). I never felt they cared for me as a patient, and often get the sense that they get frustrated working with ignorant students...which surprises me because shouldn't they enjoy working with students if they have chosen to work at STUDENT Health Services? I actually found the people in the insurance and records department to be much more pleasant to work with than those in scheduling.
If you have the chance to work with the professional staff running SHS, you won't regret it. They are incredibly professional and love what they do. Too bad this doesn't translate down to the non-medical staff, who deal with students the most.
The only doctor I've seen at SHS (for a legitimate appointment; I'll explain more below) is Neil Olsen, who also happens to be the only male doctor on staff at SHS. Dr. Olsen is friendly enough, though I sometimes got the sense that he wasn't listening to me, because he constantly interrupted me when I went to explain some symptoms that I was having. Nonetheless, he seemed to care about addressing whatever medical conditions were bothering me and was fairly comprehensive in my physical exam -- which is far more than I can say about other general practitioners.
The woman who runs the Mini Laboratory is...interesting. She is very strict about a specific sign-in and waiting room process that isn't really intuitive, and she'll get mad if you don't follow it. She's very sarcastic and droll, which can either be amusing or grating, depending on the person. One thing that was frustrating about her was that she trained students to draw blood but didn't tell the patients that the student was the one who was going to draw until right before the drawing was about to take place. Needless to say, no one likes shaky hands with a needle.
WAIT TIMES
Another mixed bag. Coming in for an appointment during the summer, my wait time was 0 minutes. Coming in for an appointment at the end of the Spring semester, I had to wait 30-45 minutes past my appointment time to see Dr. Olsen. I was told that my wait time was a unique circumstance, but still.
Wait times for the Mini Laboratory are anywhere from 5-20 minutes depending on who happened to have signed in before you.
FACILITIES
Archaic, and the staff will agree with you. Just deal with it.
PHARMACY
Alright, so here's the deal. If you want to utilize the SHS Pharmacy, you MUST get a prescription written by an SHS doctor. Thus, if you want to get a prescription refill, continuing from a prescription that was written by a non-SHS doctor, you'll have to meet with an SHS doctor to get the prescription re-written. I made the mistake of doing this, because my 3-minute meeting with the doctor who wrote my prescription cost me $20 in co-pay because it was deemed an in-network doctor's visit. I was so mad.
The pharmacy itself is only stocked with a selection of medications. For the rest, you'll have to visit the nearby Storrs Drug or CVS (or some other options near Willimantic). For some reason, when I filled my prescription at the SHS Pharmacy, it was more expensive than when I filled it before at another pharmacy. Just another reason for me to avoid the SHS Pharmacy if I can.
OVERALL
There are a number of services offered by SHS that students have no idea exist. For example, counseling and mental health, X-rays, and women's health, to name a few. Plus, an on-call nurse at odd hours of the night is a great service to have. I would encourage students to become familiar with the services made available at SHS.
SHS also frequently has flu shot clinics, in which free flu shots are given, FREE of charge, to students with a UConn ID. SHS doesn't advertise these clinics well, but be on the look-out for them in peak flu season.
Ultimately, being right on campus, SHS is a convenient place to go for students. Especially with the new student health insurance plans, SHS visits could very well be free for the patient. For specialty services, be on the look-out for the new UConn Health Center clinic, opening in Storrs Center in December 2013.