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By Liz Rachun
According to a survey of UGA students carried out this past spring, nearly all students are satisfied with services at the University Health Center, and the satisfaction rate has risen since the center relocated to its new facility in December 1997.
At its previous location on North Campus, the health center was already recognized nationally as a benchmark example of exemplary campus health-care delivery. The new location, with its stunning design, promised additional conveniences such as ample parking and expanded clinics.
After a year and a half of operation, the statistics are in. Student satisfaction is at the highest level ever recorded at the health center. Patient visits are up throughout the building. The health center received the highest marks from its accreditation body.
From all accounts, the health center has exceeded expectations, providing convenient and comprehensive primary health care for UGA students.
In spring of 1999, the health center administration contracted with UGA’s Survey Research Center to ask students their opinions of the quality of services provided at the health center. A remarkable 96.7 percent of students responding expressed overall satisfaction with services and care provided at the health center. This is up from 89.7 percent in 1996 when the center was housed in the Gilbert building.
Satisfied students resulted in additional patient visits, over 90,000 in fiscal year 1998-99, an 18 percent increase from the previous year. The new facility has led to higher productivity, so the higher number of patients have been treated with no increase in clinical staff. The most dramatic increase in patient visits came in the dental clinic, which saw a 46 percent increase. The preventive services offered by the health promotion department had 31 percent increase and the expanded
physical-therapy department experienced a 25 percent increase.
Every three years the health center is surveyed by its accreditation board, the prestigious Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. For a second consecutive time, the health center was awarded accreditation with commendation, the highest level of accreditation. Only five other college health centers in the nation have reached this level of excellence.
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