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University of Massachusetts Amherst
SARIS - Student Affairs Research, Information and Systems
Health Services Satisfaction Survey (F97-H)
Executive Summary:Student use of the UHS increases with class year, with approximately one-quarter of first-year students and one-half of seniors having scheduled appointments since the start of the Spring 1997 semester. Of those making appointments, four-fifths are satisfied with the time it took them to get an appointment, and nine-tenths feel that check-in and waiting room staff are friendly. One-third say they spent more than 15 minutes in the waiting room after their scheduled time, and 14% report waiting over 15 minutes in the examination room. Over 90% of student users of UHS feel that the staff behaved professionally, that their concerns were heard, and that they were adequately involved in making decisions about their own care. Only half of students feel informed about health services on campus, while only one-third feel informed about mental health services. Over half of respondents rated the overall reputation of the UHS within the campus community as "fair" or "poor," while 80% said that they were "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with their personal experience with the UHS.
On Wednesday, November 19, Project Pulse conducted a telephone survey investigating students’ experience with and perceptions of University Health Services (UHS). Pulse interviewers attempted to contact 772 undergraduate students who were randomly selected by computer from the University’s database. Of these, 467 were successfully contacted and 384 (82.2%) agreed to be interviewed. See Table 1 for the final disposition of the sample and Table 2 for a demographic summary of the respondents. The response rate for the survey was 50%.
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Table 1: Final Disposition
of the Sample
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N
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% of Total
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% of Contacted
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| Response rate (In & cooperated) |
384
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49.7
|
82.2
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| In, declined interview |
83
|
10.8
|
17.8
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| Not in |
305
|
39.5
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| Totals |
*772
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100.0
|
100.0
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| * Excludes 41 sampled students with unobtainable phone numbers. | |||
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Table 2: Demographic
Summary of the Respondents
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|
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%
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| Female |
50.4
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| Male |
49.6
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| First-year |
30.0
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| Sophomore |
30.9
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| Junior |
19.5
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| Senior |
19.5
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| Live on campus |
70.7
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Average age = 20.2 years
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First, students were asked whether they had had an appointment at UHS to see a health care provider at any time since the beginning of the Spring 1997 semester. Three-fifths of the respondents (61.1%, n=212) had not. The likelihood of students having had a UHS appointment correlated positively with class year, with 24.5% of first-year students, 39.6% of sophomores, 46.3% of juniors and 52.2% of seniors having done so (p=.0015). The 135 students who had made appointments at UHS were then asked a battery of questions about their experiences during their last scheduled appointment. Four-fifths (80.1%, n=101) indicated that they are very or somewhat satisfied with the amount of time that elapsed between when they made their appointment and when they actually saw a health care provider (see Figure 1). Over nine-tenths (92.3%, n=108) reported that the person they spoke with to make the appointment was very or somewhat friendly, and a similar proportion (92.1%, n=116) reported that the staff member who checked them into the waiting area was very or somewhat friendly. One-third of students (33.6%, n=43) said that they had waited in the waiting area for more than 15 minutes after their scheduled appointment time, and 70.7% (n=29) of those 43 were not informed of the delay by a staff member. Men were almost twice as likely as women (44.8% v. 24.3%, p=.0143) to report a wait of more than 15 minutes. Of the 14.7% of respondents (n=19) who waited more than 15 minutes in the examination room, 63.2% (n=12) were not informed of the delay by a staff member.
Figure 1. Student satisfaction with wait time for last UHS appointment
Still focused on their last appointment, students were asked to agree or disagree with a series of statements about that experience. Most (95.4%, n=125) agreed somewhat or strongly that UHS staff had behaved in a professional manner, that their concerns had been listened to and taken seriously (99.2%, n=129) (see Figure 2), that their care provider clearly explained test or treatment options (87.2%, n=109), and that they were as involved as they wished to be in decisions about their care or treatment (91.5%, n=117).
Figure 2. "Your health care provider listened carefully
to your concerns and took them seriously."
All survey respondents were asked if they had
spoken by phone with the triage nurse, and 14.5% (n=48) had done so. Of those
48 students, 77.1% (n=37) reported being satisfied with the advice they received.
Women were more than twice as likely as men (20.5% v. 8.5%, p=.0021) to have
spoken with a triage nurse, and use of this service also increased with class
year; only 6.3% of first-year students had talked to a triage nurse, compared
to 14.7% of sophomores, 15.9% of juniors, and 26.2% of seniors (p=.0064).
Next, all respondents were asked about their overall impressions of the competence
of UHS staff. Doctors are perceived to be more competent than nurse practitioners
and physicians assistants, with 50.2% (n=108) of students rating the former
and 35.8% (n=78) of students rating the latter as very competent (see Figure
3).
Figure 3. Perceived competence of UHS doctors and nurse practitioners/physicians
assistants
Over four-fifths of students (83.2%, n=169) find the directional signs at the UHS very or somewhat helpful. When asked how easy it is to reach the desired person or department by telephone, 79.5% (n=132) report that it is very or somewhat easy.
Only one-half of the respondents (51.4%, n=164) feel that they are very or somewhat informed about services available to students through UHS, and only 34.0% (n=104) feel informed about mental health services available to students. Very few (2.3%, n=8) have seen the UHS Web page. The “Not Ready for Bedtime Players” have performed for 10.2% (n=35) of the respondents, with women making up 65.7% and men 34.3% of the audience. Of those who attended a performance, 97.1% (n=33) found it both entertaining and informative.
Asked an open-ended question about their preferred primary means of obtaining information about the UHS, almost half (46.7%, n=155) prefer mail, 10.8% (n=36) prefer personal visits, and 8.7% (n=29) each prefer friends or brochures as information sources.
Students were asked a series of questions which investigated their perceptions of various aspects of UHS. Asked to describe the general reputation of the UHS within the campus community, 5.2% said “excellent,” 42.7% said “good,” 32.9% said “fair,” and 19.2% said “poor.” In general, students’ perception of the UHS’s reputation declines with class year (p=.0014) (see Figure 4). Asked about their own overall personal experience with the UHS, 80.9% describe themselves as very or somewhat satisfied (see Figure 5).
