News
Health Center hires new doctor, defends practice
By Jack Cartwright '15
September 27, 2012
This summer, the Hamilton College Health Center hired Dr. Frank Kramer M.D., a full time doctor for the Health Center and the director of Student Health Services. Kramer specializes in internal medicine, has been practicing in the Mohawk Valley for 10 years and mostly does outpatient work.
He began working at Hamilton College early in the summer months, focusing on the summer camps held on campus, as well as being available for the H.E.O.P. students. Since the school year has started, he has been able to get a clearer picture of where the Health Center is now. He portrays the negative criticisms of the Health Center as a matchup between perception and reality.
Prior to the hiring of Dr. Kramer, a doctor was on campus only twice a week for no more than three hours each day. There were two nurse practitioners on call who could prescribe medicine, as well as a registered nurse. Francine Vaughan, the Health Center office coordinator, said having a doctor on campus has not been a “huge change.” Nonetheless, Vaughan believes that the doctor’s presence “is a comfort thing for many students.”
Dr. Kramer says he can attest that the overall “quality and availability of the Health Center is good.” His assessment of the Health Center contrasts with many student criticisms of it. “The trends we see here are equivalent to similar institutions,” he says of student ratings of the Health Center. A recent survey administered by Hamilton College supports his claims. The survey revealed that 43.8 percent of students in the class of 2012 were satisfied with Student Health Services. When compared with the satisfaction of other graduating seniors at similar liberal arts institutions, the differences were not statistically significant.
Responding to a recent editorial written by the staff of The Spectator, which criticized the Health Center for its lack of hours and staffing issues, Kramer had “no major response one way or the other.” For him, the editorial conveyed the “implication among the student population that the services are inadequate.” To that point, he corrected the editorial piece, which incorrectly stated, “Physicians are only available twice weekly.” He said, “I am a Board Certified Internist on campus five days a week.”
He also addressed criticism regarding the hours of availability. The Health Center is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with an hour closure for lunch at noon. Dr. Kramer would like the students to see the Health Center in the context of a larger culture. “In general, medical practices only have office hours. Only some large medical practices have evening hours for people working 40 hours a week that could not otherwise see their doctor.” In this context Kramer says it could hardly be expected for Hamilton to have longer hours than it does now. The hours of availability, he says, “may be far from an ideal, but it matches the realities of our culture.”
Vaughan backed up Dr. Kramer in regard to the hours of availability. “We’re pretty accommodating,” she said. “I’d say 97% of the time we can see the student the day that he or she requests an appointment. Our office is much more flexible than a typical doctor’s office.” She said the calls for more hours of availability are surprising to her. She believes students are not making enough use of the early morning appointments because they may be unwilling to wake up early. “I’ve actually had many students decline early morning appointments even if they were available for those appointments,” said Vaughan.
According to Dr. Kramer “there is a collision of expectations” regarding the Health Center. He says students must differentiate routine care from urgent and emergency care. The Health Center is like a family doctor’s office; it is available for routine, non-urgent or emergent care. When the office is closed, or even while the office is open, if students have an urgent or emergency problem, he advises students to make use of the trained EMTs on campus, or the emergency rooms in local hospitals.
He mentioned that there have been past forays into having weekend hours at the Health Center. Several years ago, a registered nurse staffed the Health Center on Saturday mornings, but the Saturday office hours were terminated due to “underuse.” Furthermore, Dr. Kramer has looked into having someone on call for students when the office is closed, but he said it would be impractical because he is the only school doctor.
Dr. Kramer says the Health Center is here to provide the care that they can “legitimately provide expertly.” When care is necessary beyond the bounds of the capabilities of the Health Center, it may require visiting local emergency rooms. Nevertheless both Dr. Kramer and Vaughan agree that the services of the Health Center, despite its perceived flaws, are able to properly serve the needs of the Hamilton College students.