In a patient satisfaction survey completed last spring regarding Dick's House, it was revealed that 85 percent of Dartmouth students are satisfied with the care that they receive there. (Surprised? I was.) Why, then, does it seem that 100 percent of Dartmouth students complain about the College's Health Service 100 percent of the time? Well, it may just be because when the same students were asked how they felt their peers would rank Dick's House, the satisfaction rates were quite lower. So it appears that when it comes to the Health Service, Dartmouth students have retreated back to the mentality of second grade -- when you got chicken nuggets just because your friends got chicken nuggets.
However, as our fellow Ivy League brethren continue to eliminate their inpatient facilities, it might be behoove Dartmouth students to get to know the beauty of Dick's House and tell their friends, "Hey man, forget the nuggets. I'm going to get a cheeseburger."
To aid in this journey to the other side, I met with a couple of doctors from Dick's House -- Dr. Ann Bracken and Dr. Dawn Harland -- to learn the finer points of the services offered there. From them, I learned that the best part of Dick's House is (obviously) that most services offered are "free" to all students paying full tuition. Free in the same sense of the word that the gym and food from Programming Board are free: You've already paid for it in your College bill. Therefore, with the same guiltless glee with which students steal pizza from PB events, more students should be taking advantage of the wide range of services provided by Dick's House.
The Health Service provides an assortment of options that would probably not be as affordable and/or would definitely require a co-payment if they were to be administered by another health care provider. Procedures such as x-ray examinations, an abundance of lab work, and pregnancy tests are all free-of-charge at Dick's House.
Despite the campus myth that Health Services indiscriminately administers pregnancy tests at every visit, Bracken said that those tests are expensive and only are given when applicable, such as part of a routine check during a request for Plan-B or birth control, or complaints of severe abdominal pain. She assured me that if I come to Dick's House with a sore throat or a bum arm, there is no way they will offer me a pregnancy test. Harland said she thinks that all college campuses have that pregnancy test rumor, while in fact she hasn't even performed a pregnancy test this year.
During my interview, Bracken asked me if I was familiar with the Dick's House process at all, and if I'd ever been there before. Inappropriately, I laughed as I counted the times this past month I have paid a visit to ol' College Health Service. The possibility had never crossed my mind that not everyone knew the clinicians by name, nor that they couldn't fill out that little white sheet at the receptionist sheet with eyes closed and hands behind their backs.
Dick's House is made up of a variety of departments that offer a wide array of services. There is also an orthopedic clinic and a dermatology clinic that are staffed by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center upper-level residents, but you must have a referral from a clinician or doctor to get an appointment. The dermatology clinic is currently closed, but the orthopedic clinic is open on a few Monday nights each month.
Bracken noted that most students do not find out what Dick's House has to offer until their junior or senior year.
"Graduate students seem to be more pleased with their level of care than undergraduates, because they have had the experience of inconvenient and expensive health care in the real world," Bracken said. Harland attributes some of the chicken nugget sensationalism of the undergraduates to college folklore and an information overload.
I told Bracken about my current adventure in Dick's House-land when I brought my prescription for physical therapy from my orthopedist and was scheduled to see a clinician. The clinician then referred me to the orthopedic clinic where, after being examined, I was given an appointment for physical therapy. This time it was Bracken's turn to laugh inappropriately -- and she did. She informed me that some of that run-around could have been avoided, but it actually is a good idea to see a clinician first if you need to see a specialist. The clinician can then refer you to the specialist and help you avoid the long wait time you may have had if you'd tried to make the appointment yourself, Bracken said.
Some believe that Dick's House exists solely for the purpose of seeing a doctor. Well, unfortunately for them, there are only three M.D.'s at Dick's House who take appointments: Dr. Bracken, Dr. Harland and Dr. Turco. However, you will never find them on the online appointment scheduler and will have to special request them if you call by phone. Due to the non-standardization of their schedules, it is simpler if they are only accessible for those that request to see them.
The clinicians who the bulk of Dick's House patients traditionally meet are either licensed, registered nurses or physician's assistants who hold national and state credentials. They continue to meet medical education requirements and have obtained prescription-writing privileges by maintaining a Drug Enforcement Agency license. These clinicians are not only certified, but highly trusted to provide the highest level of care, Harland said. If necessary, clinicians refer patients to one of the three doctors for further evaluation.
Resources such as alcohol and drug education, athletic trainers, counseling, health education, nutrition, a men's health program, a women's health program, and STI and HIV screenings are also provided through the Health Service. They will also provide allergy injections for students who bring their own serum. In addition, Sexual Abuse Awareness coordinator Leah Prescott and nutritionist Claudette Peck are resources that students may contact.
Besides the pharmacy, which is notorious for receiving new prescriptions for only the very sick, there is a vending machine that provides 24-hour access to non-prescription medications such as painkillers, cough and nasal symptom relief, eye drops, gastrointestinal medicine, condoms, skin products, vitamins, thermometers and lip balm.
There is also an infirmary within Dick's House that houses 10 beds upstairs as a post-operation clinic and an after-hours treatment center, with two nurses on duty and a doctor on-call.
If you are not sure whether or not your injury requires a visit to Dick's House or DHMC and you are capable of making a phone call, anyone can contact Health Service 24-hours a day for a situation assessment. If a visit to the hospital is deemed necessary, ambulances or Safety and Security vehicles are available to ferry students to and from the Medical Center.
"Seeing volumes of young people every day, I can attribute to the ability of physicians in Dick's House to diagnose youthful diseases such as mononucleosis and chlamydia oh so well," Dr. Harland said. However, one of the main factors in a good diagnosis is the timing. For some diseases, a week or two can make the difference between an accurate diagnosis and a misdiagnosis by any health care provider.
Dr. Bracken suggests that besides exploring the vast depths of Dartmouth's Health Service, students should also investigate websites like Goaskalice.com, which is Columbia's Health Service question and answer site.
Maybe I am just sickly, injured often, or severely disillusioned, but whatever it is, I highly value the ability to walk up Rope Ferry Road and, at almost any time, receive a multitude of x-rays, buy discounted generic ibuprofen, or find clinicians to tell me that no, I don't have strep throat. Because no matter what my peers are saying, I'm proud to be one of the 85 percent who are satisfied with their health care.
