Satisfaction with overall quality of care and services is strongly correlated with the aspects of health care just listed in addition to "attention given to what you had to say by the physician or nurse practitioner", "clarity of follow-up instructions", and "ease of getting a referral to see a specialist".
Both overall satisfaction and satisfaction with overall quality of care and services are also significantly correlated with other service issues such as waiting time, courtesy shown by receptionists, and ease of getting claims resolved‹although to a lesser degree than the above factors.
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When asked whether they would recommend HUHS to others in the Harvard community, students further displayed their dissatisfaction. Just over half (53%) said that they would recommend HUMS. However, almost as many said they would not recommend it (47%), and only 6% said they would definitely recommend HUMS.
Reasons for Dissatisfaction
The reasons students are dissatisfied are varied, but complaints seem to center around delays/waiting (42%), misdiagnoses (36%), poor attitudes of care providers (22%), and poor, incomplete, or rushed care (18%). Students find getting an appointment to be difficult (27%) and they experience long waits to see providers even with scheduled appointments (18%). When asked what HUHS could do to improve the quality of care and services it provides, students suggested better care (37%), which would entail better diagnoses and explanations of treatments (16%), better doctors (10%), and more time spent with patients (5%). Nearly a quarter of
respondents said that HUHS needs more staff/doctors to help decrease the waiting time (24%). Approximately two out of ten would like it to be easier to make appointments (21%).
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Two-thirds of those students who gave HUHS ratings of "fair" or "poor" on overall care, did so because of negative care experiences. For example, 70% of students who reported misdiagnoses as a barrier to satisfaction gave HUHS a rating of "fair" or "poor" for overall care.
Of those who gave a "fair" or "poor" rating to HUHS for overall care, 61% like the convenience that HUHS has to offer.
The open-ended responses elicited comments that reflected experiences of delays, misdiagnoses, and incomplete care. For example:
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