"I resent having to wait an hour and a half every time I have to go to get a small check up," says Lisa M. Ginet '86.

In another UHS poll done in 1983, service at the walk-in clinic scored a much lower satisfaction rating than service in other UHS departments.

UHS officials claim that they have never encouraged use of the walk-in service, if a patient can get a personal physician instead.

"The walk-in clinic is not the best place to get health care--especially if a person has a long time illness," says Director of UHS, Warren E.C. Wacker.

"We have always said, on page one of the UHS information guide: Get yourself a personal physician instead of going to the walk-in clinic all the time," says Dr. Sholem Postel, deputy director of UHS.

Doctor's Office Hours

Postel says that UHS is now developing a system which will encourage patients to get their own personal physicians instead of just using the walk-in clinic for their health care needs.

The plan is called the Reserve Time System and, under it, doctors have to reserve some part of their working days for patients who call up and want an appointment as soon as possible.

At its best, patients should be able to see the doctor 48 hours after the call. After seeing a doctor once in his office rather than the clinic, UHS officials think the patient will be more likely to return to the same doctor the next time he feels sick.

The final product should be better patient care at UHS, officials say. "The person who has a doctor here is apt to find very satisfactory medical care, as opposed to the person who just uses the walk-in clinic," says Postel.

Postel says that, since UHS started using the Reserve Time System last June, attendance at the walk-in clinic has declined 20 percent. This coincides with a decline in the number of complaints UHS has received about waits in the walk-in clinic.

The program hasn't been fully implemented yet, so officials hope to see a greater drop in walk-in visits. Postel also expects that, as the numbers of patients in the walk-in clinic declines, the reputation of UHS will rise.

"I think a lot of people who are dissatisfied with UHS go through the walk-in clinic only and only have an impression of it, whereas UHS has much more to offer," Postel says.

Money for Service

What UHS has on top of the walk-in clinic is a huge facility servicing about 175,000 patients a year, not all of them students. Many Harvard staff and faculty use UHS.