<p>A few weeks ago my niece, was very sick. (Fever, chills, terrible sore throat) One of her friends had recently gone to the campus clinic w/a sore throat and they had sent her to an ER for diagnosis. After hearing this, my niece opted for an urgent care clinic off campus, and then called me. I ended up going into Boston, picking her up and taking her to my doc. in the suburbs.<br>
Today, my own D went to the healthcare clinic on her campus with a sore throat, off and on fever, weakness, extreme fatigue, and conjestion. This was her second visit. Her first visit was two weeks ago with the same symptoms and she had been having them for two weeks at that point. Both times she went to the clinic, they sent her home with sudafed and told her to drink lots of water. Both times she told them that she’d been exposed to strep but they told her that she did not have it and didn’t need a swab done.
After todays visit, I called my sister who lives near campus. My sister took D to her family doc. They tested her for strep. and it was positive. She’s probably had it for a month. She’s been going to play rehearsals five nights a week and exposing the whole cast, let alone her room mate etc. I’m angry. She’s been singing through strep for weeks and stressing her voice. I’m thinking of calling to complain. Am I “hovering”?</p>
<p>I would write, you never know when you might need documentation.</p>
<p>I would call, this is scary stuff and to not swab is stupid…it can create more patients</p>
<p>This is not about hovering at all, it is about showing a potential health risk they “missed”</p>
<p>Swabs aren’t perfect either, and I am not one who like giving antibiotices willy nilly, but the second visit should have shown she was really sick and it was more than just a cold</p>
<p>What does need to be done is someone needs to inform the Dean and head of housing at that school that your niece was contagious, with strep, and has exposed those in the cast and in her dorm, as well as her classmates, as all these people need to know what they have been exposed to. Back when I was in school I was put into isolation in the health center infirmary until they could prove I did NOT have something I could spread to the entire campus. You could go ahead in the letter explain that this wasn’t caught by the Campus Health Care Clinic, but by the family doctor.</p>
<p>I can’t figure out why they would not have swabbed her. Could it be the expense of the test? It just seems really silly to me. D and Niece both say that the main purpose the clinic seems to serve is to educate about STD’s and hand out condoms.
I’ll call the clinic and the dean’s office in the morning. Thanks.</p>
<p>Keep an eye out for mono. Lots of it is misdiagnosed or coexists with strep.</p>
<p>we had a similar situation daughter’s sophomore year, with mono… went undiagnosed despite telling student health she had a known exposure - she also had all the tell-tale symptoms. They did test her for strep, but wouldn’t for mono… go figure.</p>
<p>Anyway, a couple of weekends ago we were out to dinner with daughter’s roommates’s parents and their daughter. All are seniors now and we were recalling all the crisis calls home over the years, which included this kind of stuff. When I told the dad about my D’s experience with mono, he said I should have called the parent’s office, that they are much more likely to take the issue somewhere than have it die on someone’s desk. I had written letters to the director of student health and copied it to someone (can’t remember who), and never heard a word back from anyone. He said everytime something came up and he contacted the parent’s office and they responded very promptly. This included computer problems (computer bought through the school), bursar’s office, etc.</p>
<p>Wish I had learned this four years ago.</p>
<p>I just remember years ago my brother being misdiagnosed with strep in college. He tested + for strep, which they treated, but meanwhile he actually or also had mono. He eventually ended up in the hospital (after suffering terribly) and he was just terribly sick. He just waited so long, thinking they knew what was wrong with him…</p>
<p>I just emailed the Dean of students, the health clinic and the parents office. I’m going to have my sister take her back in if she’s not markedly better in a few days. The thing that bugs me is that my sister would have taken her to the doctor weeks ago, but I had faith in the campus clinic! Now that she knows where to go, D willl just see my sister’s doc. if something else comes up. The funny thing is that prior to leaving for college, my D had been to the doctor four times in eighteen years for acute illness! The second day there, she broke out in hives and had to see an allergist and now this!</p>
<p>Not testing for strep is just plain stupid.</p>
<p>I wonder how many additional cases there are now on this campus just because of this careless omission.</p>
<p>Untreated strep can be really serious. This was a bad error.</p>
<p>That’s terrible, but sounds pretty similar to my campus health center. I swear, every time I go in there, they tell me to take a Sudafed and some cough drops. I went in there puking and I got cough drops.</p>
<p>They also pregnancy test pretty much every girl who goes in there, regardless of symptoms. I went in last year with a severe sinus infection and they said I might be pregnant. When I told them I (definitely) was not, they said I should take a test to confirm. Jeez.</p>
<p>Bethievt & Marian, I agree. I can’t believe that she’s had to attend weeks of play rehearsal feeling aweful and singing with a raw sore throat. My H just got home and wants me to call in the morning. I will, but I’m going to try to be very “understanding” because I don’t want to make trouble for D.
My niece says that everyone on her campus knows that their health clinic is a joke. If they are not going to take care of kids, why even have it?</p>
<p>luckycharmed, I’ve heard this from several of my D’s friends who go to schools all over the country. I think it’s pretty typical.</p>
<p>Luckycharmed:</p>
<p>This reminds me of my first encounter with a US hospital. I had a bad case of stomach ache in my first month in college. I was taken to the local hospital where the doctor kept on asking whether I was pregnant. He refused to take my No for an answer. “How do you know you’re not?” I told him if I were, it would be only the second case of parthenogenesis. Only then did he relent and start wondering if it was something I’d eaten.
I was sick a lot that first year with one thing or another, but other than that encounter, I got first-rate care.</p>
<p>marite, Were you always seen at a hospital?</p>
<p>Sarahsmom</p>
<p>I think you’re right to be very polite. Always the best way. Untreated strep might just go away–the body’s immunities kicking in–but it can lead to heart valve and/or kidney problems. Not to panic–I’m sure a high percentage of cases don’t get treated and don’t lead to chronic health problems, but that’s why they should always culture, imo, and culture again later if it doesn’t go away. I’d be more cautious advocating antibiotics “just in case” for strep throat symptoms than for meningitis symptoms (because the really bad things usually take much longer to happen with strep throat), but I see no downside (except justifiable cost) to doing a culture.</p>
<p>No. Just that first time. It turned out I had an allergic reaction to something I ate (but then, much of the food was strange and I could not identify what was not). The other times, I was at the campus infirmary. H’s roommate spent a fair amount of time at the infirmary with mono.</p>
<p>I told him if I were, it would be only the second case of parthenogenesis. Only then did he relent and start wondering if it was something I’d eaten.</p>
<p>That reminded me a of joke
What does the H.stand for in Jesus H. Christ</p>
<p>Haploid</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>My friends and I accumulated some student-health horror stories…and this at a university with perhaps the best teaching hospital in the world. I’ll just say that a COLLEGE health clinic that doesn’t test for mono when it sees fever and glands like golf balls stuck to a student’s neck…well, my liver recovered eventually, but it was not good.</p>
<p>Mental health services were great. Physical health, not so much.</p>