Friday, October 26, 2007

Why the student health center at my university sucks

While R was at the optometrist on campus (getting a pair of very sexy computer glasses), I decided that it was high time I went to the student health center to get some blood work done. Needless to say, all did not go as planned. By the end of my visit I definitely wanted to cry.

I arrived hoping to get a quick blood test and go. Seeing as I was already known to be on statins, I figured they could just tell the doctor I was here for the blood test I needed and send me down to the lab. No such luck, though, and the soonest appointment was in nearly an hour. I accepted it, then went back to have them cancel it, at which point in time they were able to have a doctor see me immediately.

So I go and talk with the doctor (actually an NP, but it's pretty much the same thing), and while explaining why I was there I asked if, while we were testing my blood we could also test for celiac disease, seeing as I was recently diagnosed with IBS and the former is often diagnosed as the latter. She told me that there wasn't a blood test for it! I didn't know what to do, seeing as I didn't have any papers with me stating the contrary. She's the professional, after all, so I shouldn't know more about this than her. Of course, she was also confused as to why I wanted my liver enzymes tested (because that's required every 6 months or so when you're on statins, which she should have known), so perhaps I shouldn't have been so shocked. When I move onto R's health care I'm definitely going to get tested, seeing as the condition has been linked to miscarriage and infertility (and I'll be wanting to be having kids before too long).

On top of all that, I had to deal with a rather unpleasant lab technician when I finally got my blood tested. Having had lots of experience getting blood drawn, I asked that the phlebotomist use a butterfly. I was then berated by the technician for coming to get my blood drawn dehydrated, having had problems with getting my blood drawn in the past, and making her use the butterfly, which takes more time. Well, I'm sorry, I like not having bruises. Last time I came to the student health center for a blood test they had to skewer both my arms. I just have tiny veins! I'm definitely looking forward to going back to my old phlebotomist. She was very gentle.

2 comments:

Karen Jensen said...

Here's to a decent health care system in the U.S.!
Enjoyed your blog.

Teacher Anonymous said...

Thank you!