Welcome from Director David McBride, M.D.
Dr. David McBride
You often don't realize how much your trusted Family Physician or health care provider means to you until you're away at University and don't have them around any more. Taking good care of yourself and negotiating the health care system can be daunting without the immediate help of family members. Fortunately, Boston University has a caring and competent staff dedicated to helping to meet your health care needs.
As a full time student at Boston University, you have access to a team of first-rate medical and behavioral health providers. We will work closely with you and other campus resources to meet your health care needs. I look forward to leading BU Student Health Services as we work toward a campus-wide approach to health and wellness for students.
We are glad to help with a range of needs from giving advice on your cold to helping to interpret complicated medical information, as needs arise. Many of our services are provided without immediate cost to full time students and others have an associated fee. Please stop by to learn more about BU Student Health Services.
Student Health Services Appointment Policy Change
Student Health Services would like to announce an exciting change to our approach to the scheduling of medical visits. Beginning in January 2010 Student Health Services will become an appointment based medical office. This change is prompted by feedback from students asking for the opportunity to book medical appointments in advance. In addition, we have measured waiting time and know that our students who make an appointment in advance have an average wait time of 15 minutes versus 25 minutes for those who walk in without an appointment. Eighty-three percent of students who schedule an appointment in advance wait less than 20 minutes for the start of their visit. We will also be adding clinical staff to facilitate office efficiency and excellent care.
Here is how the policy will work and what it will mean to you:
1) 40% of our appointments will be pre-booked up to 3 days before the day of the appointment. Please call 353-3575 to book your appointment. For example, you can call SHS on Monday and make an appointment for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.
2) If you need to miss your appointment, we ask that you inform us at least one hour before the appointment time that you need to cancel.
3) 60% of our appointments will be booked as same day appointments. This can be done by calling SHS at 353-3575 or by visiting the office. Please note if you walk into the clinic you will be booked into our next open appointment spot.
4) We will continue to provide care for urgent matters in an immediate fashion. Some examples of an urgent problem are a laceration that is actively bleeding, chest pain and trouble breathing.
5) We plan to roll out an on line appointment booking system during the Spring Semester to further simplify scheduling.
It is important to know that Student Health does take your concerns seriously and that your feedback does not go unnoticed. The number one concern among all students is patient wait time. We realize this new policy will not entirely remove wait time, however we do feel that it will greatly improve the process and help the health center run more efficiently. This is in turn should help the overall patient experience.
Please remember that all full time students of Boston University, regardless of your insurance carrier, are eligible to visit the health center. A full time student is someone who is at least 75% enrolled.
Feel free to call at 617-353-3575 or stop by if you have any questions about our services.
