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Essay by Student Senate |
(NOTE: The following essay is in response to Dr. Judith Appleton's letter to the editor in last week's Review)
First, the Student Senate does agree with Dr. Appleton that our survey was not perfect. There is no question that the methods employed by the Senate were not foolproof. The Student Senate also regrets that the results of our survey had yet to be seen by Dr. Appleton and others at the time of the Review article - though we did make her aware that the survey was taking place before it happened. It was our hope that the Review would print the results in their entirety so that the entire College community would see them at the same time. Anyone who would like to see these results, or read comments on the surveys, is welcome to request that information.
Despite our lack of absolute perfection, however, we are at a loss as to why Dr. Appleton refuses to take the results of the Student Health survey seriously. We unequivocally stand behind our results as a solid indicator of student opinion on Student Health.
The surveys were distributed to every student in their mailbox. Contrary to Dr. Appleton's belief that extra copies were just "lying around the mailroom," the only surveys that were not used were those in the recycling bin that students had thrown away. It is possible that students may have responded more than once, by using these discarded surveys, but we think this is unlikely. Although many similar complaints were recorded, the lengthy horror stories on the back of the surveys were not duplicated. Dr. Appleton also implies that the survey responses are incorrect because only dissatisfied students filled them out. Let's face it - students who are very dissatisfied with the Clinic may indeed have a greater desire to fill out the surveys than those who don't care at all. On the other hand, students who are extremely satisfied should have also responded in large numbers. Unfortunately, there were only a few respondents who expressed a high level of satisfaction for the Clinic and Dr. Appleton. Another problem that was stated in Dr. Appleton's letter is that the actual number of students who filled out the survey - 439 students filled them out; 15.4% of the campus - was small. Although these numbers may not seem large to the Clinic staff, and while obviously in a perfect world everyone would have filled out a survey, we feel strongly that these numbers reflect a big enough population of students who feel that serious changes need to be made.
In another section of her letter, Appleton claims that the Clinic is being blamed for dissatisfaction that really lies with the Hospital. The truth of the matter is that most of the survey's respondents have never even been to the Hospital! By shifting the blame onto others, the Clinic staff is trying to cover up the real issue - the perceived, or actual, incompetence of the Student Health staff!
Dr. Appleton also states that the health concerns of the students should have been brought to the attention of the Health Plan Board. Complaints apparently can be made by following a bureaucratic procedure of which surely not one Oberlin student is aware. Nonetheless, perhaps this is the ideal course of action in a perfect world. Surely, however, Dr. Appleton is aware that the Health Plan Board, on which she sits, has not met even once this entire school year! If the committee had bothered to meet, perhaps these issues would have surfaced, and complaints heard. Furthermore, we feel that the fact that Appleton is a key member of the Health Plan Board is a serious conflict of interest. How can the Board objectively recommend changes when the person being discussed is in the room?
Finally, we would like to address the the current survey being given out by Student Health, which clearly has its own flaws. The biggest problem with it is that the survey is given to students immediately after their visit. Dr. Appleton believes this is the strong point of the survey, but we beg to differ. The staff at the Clinic obviously knows that the survey is being given out immediately after the student's visit. Therefore, the unprofessionalism of the staff is temporarily stopped so that the results of the survey will put the Student Health in a positive light. Additionally, the respondents to Dr. Appleton are only those who continue to go to the Clinic. Our Student Health Survey was given to students on a random day so that they could reflect on each of their medical visits, not just the most recent visit; and our survey included both those who continue to go to Student Health and those who stopped going because it became an unacceptable option.
The results of our survey clearly indicate that there is a strong sense of dissatisfaction among many many students. Who cares if, as Dr. Appleton says, the majority of health care providers in the United States have unsatisfied patients? As Oberlin students who pay a great deal for these basic services, we have the right to recieve better health care from our College! If Dr. Appleton refuses to acknowledge our thoughts, we can only hope that others higher up in the administration will, and act accordingly.
Copyright © 1996, The Oberlin Review.
Volume 124, Number 17; March 8, 1996
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