Byline: KAREN NELIS - Staff writer
Albany Medical College, the Albany College of Pharmacy and Siena College have unique systems for providing health services to their students -- and could serve as models for the future.
The medical college and pharmacy school both use the Family Practice Group of Albany Medical Center Hospital as their student health centers. Students can see doctors by appointment during the day and doctors are on call at night. The hospital provides back-up emergency care.
'It's worked out well for us,' said William Cronin, director of finance and business affairs at the Albany College of Pharmacy. 'They're the professionals running it.'
Siena College this year contracted with Saint Peter's Hospital Wellness Center to run its daytime-only student health center. The new center is being run by a nurse practitioner, who has more extensive training than a registered nurse and is qualified to diagnose and treat common minor illnesses and injuries and prescribe medications.
Patricia Waniewski, manager of Saint Peter's Hospital Wellness Center, said the hospital hoped to offer its services to other colleges.
'There's a real advantage for colleges to align themselves with hospitals, especially community hospitals which are committed to providing affordable, accessible health care,' Waniewski said.
Some college health officials, including Hudson Valley Community College Health Center Director Janet Atwater, however, worry that this approach will eliminate the education aspect of college health.
Several health center directors emphasized that teaching students to take care of themselves is a key part of college health care. 'I feel like you can really have an impact here on how people treat their bodies for the rest of their lives,' said Maureen Casey, director of the health center at Russell Sage College.
Another way to upgrade and guarantee quality of student health care is to encourage all campus health centers to undergo the accreditation process offered by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC).
Dr. Maggie Bridwell, director of the health center at the University of Maryland at College Park and a member of the board of AAAHC, said she believes all centers should seek accreditation. Her center has been accredited since the late 1970s and was the second in the country to be granted accreditation, she said.
'I feel it's important to show we measure up to the same standards as your HMO (health maintenance organization) or group practice,' Bridwell said.
The accreditation process is rigorous and examines such standards as quality of care, in-house procedures to review and upgrade care and medical procedures on a regular basis, administration of the center, rights of patients, and fire and safety codes and sanitary conditions, said Christopher Damon, executive director of the AAAHC. The typical fee for a first-time evaluation is $4,500, he said.
The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute health center has not been accredited by the AAAHC or the JCAHO, but it was evaluated two years ago by an independent health care consultant, Spelman and Johnson Group, said health center director Dr. Robert Athanasiou.
The consultant's report found that RPI placed a high priority on student health care and had a well-funded clinic.
In addition to the outside evaluation, Athanasiou said his center has internal quality assurance policies in place. There are treatment standards for various medical conditions and there are periodic checks to make sure they are being followed, he said.
RPI's health center is one of only two in the Capital Region run by a medical doctor and still offering overnight care. The other is Skidmore College's center directed by Dr. Richard Farrell.
