Student Survey Blasts UHS Care

A semester-long student survey reveals widespread dissatisfaction with Undergraduate Health Services (UHS), according to a report released yesterday.

Student satisfaction in the survey rose 2 percentage points since 1992, the last time this survey was performed. But overall levels of satisfaction remained low, with just 58 percent of students rating their care as good or better. Only 3 percent of respondents rated UHS' care "excellent," and just 6 percent said they would "definitely" recommend UHS to others in the Harvard community.

"I'd heard lots of things about UHS, but to see it statistically, in black and white, was really quite startling," said Joanna L. Chan '02, co-chair of the UHS-affiliated Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC). "It points out that in the student body, there's an overall discontent with the quality of care."

In response to the survey, the facility has already hired a full-time physician to staff the after-hours urgent care clinic, replacing part-time physicians who were paid for the number of days they worked. UHS has also increased the number of afternoon and evening appointments available.

"What we've done is shift hours into the evening hours. Four to 10 p.m. is a very busy time," said UHS Director David S. Rosenthal '59. "That seems to be when students access urgent care."

UHS has also installed new appointment scheduling software in hopes of making the scheduling process easier and faster.

Difficulty in obtaining appointments was only one concern voiced by the 709 students in the survey, conducted by Cambridge's Axiom Research Company through mail and e-mail. Thirty-six percent of those who rated care less than "very good" said fear of misdiagnosis was their primary concern with UHS.

Other frequently cited concerns included poor, incomplete or rushed care and poor attitudes of care providers.

The survey also identified a number of areas of strength, with at least 70 percent of respondents indicating satisfaction with UHS physicians, UHS nurse practitioners and their treatment plans. Seventy-six percent of students also rated UHS' convenience "good" or better.

Rosenthal said he was disappointed with levels of dissatisfaction in the survey because his organization has been working hard to improve its services since 1992.

"The results are better [than 1992], but we think they should be a lot better," Rosenthal said. "I was surprised a little bit because of the great efforts that have been going on over the past couple years."

He said he attributes this year's poor results in part to misconceptions held by students about UHS services, something Rosenthal hopes to eliminate with better communication.

"One of the basic things that it tells us is when there's perceived poor care, it's frequently linked to the fact that there's not a connection with UHS and not a connection with a primary care physician," Rosenthal said. The survey showed just 15 percent of students were aware of the existence of the patient advocate, who represents patients' concerns, and just 25 percent were aware of the Health Resource Center.

But Rosenthal said 1,275 members of the class of 2003 have selected a primary care physician--a dramatic increase over previous years--and he hopes this jump will translate into increased familiarity with the organization and its services.

Yesterday, while campus officials embraced UHS' efforts to deal with student concerns and commended their openness in releasing the survey results, they also acknowledged students' concerns are still significant.

"The results must be taken seriously, and I believe are being acted upon in a responsible way by UHS," Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68 wrote in an e-mail message. "One of the most important things, I think, is for good paths of communication to continue to be developed directly between students and UHS."

And Undergraduate Council president Noah Z. Seton '00--who included UHS reform in his council campaign platform--said he sees the current reforms as a positive step.

"I'm getting more optimistic for the prospects of whether they'll be able to fully recover in the eyes of students," said Seton, who said he "wasn't terribly surprised" by the results.

"This provides a basis to work toward improvement," said Chan, whose SHAC is sponsoring a panel to discuss the survey results next week. "It demonstrates that we have an important role right now--the president and the deans know that there's a need for change. Change will occur over time."