While Big Ten Conference schools all provide nearly identical health services for no additional fees, some UW-Madison and other Big Ten students said they harbored concerns about their health services' competency levels and adherences to confidentiality.
In a 2005 random student sampling, 61.9 percent rated UW-Madison University Health Services good or very good in overall impression, according to UHS Communications Manager Jonathan Zarov.
And according to David Golden, public health director at University of Minnesota-Twin Cities' Boynton Health Services, University of Minnesota students receive 'an insurance plan that is to die for.'
'When students come in here, they get virtually everything at no out-of-pocket cost,' Golden said.
But UW-Madison sophomore Laura Brietzke's UHS experience did not score so highly.
A blood test a week after Brietzke's lymph nodes swelled to golf-ball size and her fever spiked would have immediately determined her ultimate diagnosis of mononucleosis, according to Brietzke.
However, Brietzke said she returned to UHS four times over three weeks before being given a diagnosis. Meanwhile, Brietzke developed a rash from the virus, was given a blood test and was prescribed codeine for her sore throat.
At one point, according to Brietzke, a nurse practitioner asked if she had a family history of leukemia and took another blood test, the results of which did not come in for another week.
'I was so freaked out,' Brietzke said. 'I was pretty much convinced I had cancer for that entire week.'
The fourth time Brietzke went to UHS, a medical doctor saw her and finally determined she had mononucleosis.
A Northwestern University sophomore, who asked not to be named, said several nurses at Northwestern University Health Services failed to uphold patient confidentiality.
She said she went to NUHS last fall and was interviewed by a nurse practitioner about her health history.
The nurse then asked her questions about birth control and medications while the examining room door remained open.
As she exited NUHS, a different nurse practitioner stopped the sophomore and asked her aloud in the lobby, 'Are you sure you're not on birth control'?
'The three times I was there last year, I kind of felt like they weren't doing everything they could have done to make things confidential,' she said.
Inconvenience of location and hours is a more prevalent complaint than confidentiality concerns at UHS, according to Zarov.
However, a new building will be built on University Square's current location beginning in 2006.
Zarov also said UHS is working on expanding its services within the next year to provide e-mail reminders of appointments, online scheduling and record viewing.
And though Brietzke said she had a negative experience with UHS regarding her mononucleosis diagnosis, she said she appreciated her free flu shot last year, a service UHS offers for no additional charge.
UMN also offers flu shots at no charge, but University of Michigan and Northwestern charge $20 and $15, respectively, for their influenza immunization services.
