The doctor is in?
Muhlenberg Weekly Executive Board
Issue date: 11/19/09 Section: Op/Ed
Doctor's hours in the Health Center are…oh wait, no one knows. We should even have to ask whether or not the doctor is in. The two hours a day that there are actually doctors in the health center change daily. Sure the hours are posted months in advance, but we can't schedule our sickness.
Also, the two hours a day are not consistent from day to day. They're not even the same every Monday, for example. One Monday the hours are 9:45 am - 11:45 am and the next week the hours are 12:15 pm - 2:15 pm. Granted you could check the hours on the website if you need to see a doctor on any given day but what if you are somewhere without internet service? Not everyone has an iPhone or a Blackberry where they can get 24/7 immediate internet access. Or what if an emergency situation arises and you don't have time to check the hours? Again, how are we supposed to know in August the exact time we're going to get sick in November?
In addition, two hours a day is not enough. What happens to the students who have class during those two hours but it is imperative that a doctor must be present in case of deadly complications when the student's allergy shot needs to be administered? Or maybe the student is free during those two hours, but is it fair to make them wait from the beginning of doctor's hours until the end of doctor's hours for a shot that takes 30 seconds to administer? Yes, that actually happened to someone and no, that's not fair.
Further, if a student needs medical care beyond a nurse's purview and it's after doctor's hours, they either have to drive themselves or be driven by Campus Safety to a local hospital or other local medical facility. That's just inconvenient. What's the point of even having a health center at that point?
Don't get us wrong, we are more than appreciative of the nurses who work full days to provide us with great care. Yet when a doctor is actually needed during normal 9:00 am - 5:00 pm business hours, we just wish that there would be one there.
Also, the two hours a day are not consistent from day to day. They're not even the same every Monday, for example. One Monday the hours are 9:45 am - 11:45 am and the next week the hours are 12:15 pm - 2:15 pm. Granted you could check the hours on the website if you need to see a doctor on any given day but what if you are somewhere without internet service? Not everyone has an iPhone or a Blackberry where they can get 24/7 immediate internet access. Or what if an emergency situation arises and you don't have time to check the hours? Again, how are we supposed to know in August the exact time we're going to get sick in November?
In addition, two hours a day is not enough. What happens to the students who have class during those two hours but it is imperative that a doctor must be present in case of deadly complications when the student's allergy shot needs to be administered? Or maybe the student is free during those two hours, but is it fair to make them wait from the beginning of doctor's hours until the end of doctor's hours for a shot that takes 30 seconds to administer? Yes, that actually happened to someone and no, that's not fair.
Further, if a student needs medical care beyond a nurse's purview and it's after doctor's hours, they either have to drive themselves or be driven by Campus Safety to a local hospital or other local medical facility. That's just inconvenient. What's the point of even having a health center at that point?
Don't get us wrong, we are more than appreciative of the nurses who work full days to provide us with great care. Yet when a doctor is actually needed during normal 9:00 am - 5:00 pm business hours, we just wish that there would be one there.