Boynton Health Service

Boynton is the campus clinic that offers a wide variety of services and clinics, along with a pharmacy. Thus, many University of Minnesota students and staff members come here for their medical needs.
If you ask for my advice, stay away from Boynton. Once, I stopped into Boynton to pick up a prescription and the wait was 20 minutes. I told the cashier that I would be back in 30 minutes and she assured me that they would get working on it immediately and it would be ready by the time I got back. Thirty minutes later, I come back and my prescription had been rescheduled to be filled the following day. Thus, not only did I have to wait 20 additional minutes, but they also had insurance issues and didn’t care to ask me until I personally approached them 20 minutes later and they realized it was in their triage queue. My promised 20 minute wait ended up being 35 minutes.
Next time I went in, I was scheduled to see a doctor at 11:00 AM. I wasn’t called into the exam room anywhere close to 11:00 AM. What I found ironic is that they have signs everywhere that if you have to wait 15 minutes over your scheduled time, you should go to the front desk and let them know. Being in a rush, I approached the front desk and they didn’t do a single thing. They just told me they’d check up on it, but their «check-​up» didn’t seem to do much because I still had to do some waiting.
Not a great clinic, the doctors and nurses aren’t that friendly and the staff overall just seem to be lacking customer service.
On a side note, if you do decide to come here, park in the East River Road parking ramp. I was never told this, so I ended up parking at a meter and paying over $ 5 because my visit took so long. They will reimburse you if you park in the parking ramp.

If you have a choice, avoid Boynton at all costs. Appointment times (with a physician) rarely ever start on time. The few times I have been there, I had to wait over 35 minutes just to be called in by the nurse. Why have appointment times, if they don’t mean anything. Weekend urgent care services are even worse with them refusing you service if they don’t deem your pain urgent enough. I was turned away for service today because my pain was not urgent enough and I was asked to come back during a weekday. NO ONE WAS BEING SERVICED IN THE URGENT CARE BESIDE ME, but the staff refused me service anyway. Worst part is that the student health benefit plan basically forces you to go to this dump of a clinic. I cannot wait until I graduate and won’t have to deal with this poor service. Shame on you University of Minnesota for providing students with such sub-​par service.
The eye clinic however is fantastic! The optometrists are friendly, punctual, and very helpful!

I went to see the acupuncturist here. Dr. Michael Coomes. He was terrible. I’ve had several acupuncture experiences and he was a crock. He couldn’t even find the pressure points without a device and only used 5 needles in my ear and then sat in a sterile hospital room for 10 minutes until the nurse came in and removed my needles. He was also not a god listener and had bad bedside manner. Not going back.

I am a staff member at the U of M and go to Boynton for all of my medical needs. General practitioner, eye clinic, and dental. I have had great experiences with all three. The only thing I would like them to work on is the Pharmacy wait times.
As for the Dental Clinic it’s honestly the best I’ve been to, and I’ve been to quite a few over the years. I have terrible anxiety when it comes to dental work and they made me feel at easy. Let me listen to my music, gave me nitrous and before I knew it the three cavities I had filled were done. Without shedding a tear. And in past dental clinics I had always cried at least once throughout the procedure! I highly recommend Boynton and especially there Dental Clinic!

Three words: Purgatory on earth
I’m a graduate student at the U so whenever I need a check-​up for traveling, flu season, etc, I tend to focus on proximity. Boynton is just 10 minute walk from my department so I opt to come here. But, I must say I am an idiot when it comes to experiential learning because the clinic is just so disorganized, unprofessional, and even somewhat medically unethical.
Each year I encounter something significantly wrong with this place, and finally am fed up!
First, physicians: If you are lucky you will get a decent physician. If not you get those who insist you are not really sick despite you waiting over an hour to see the fool. As a patient going out of my way to see a doctor, I can 100% say that the last thing I want to hear or deal with is your dismissive attitude. But, if you are lucky there are few doctors who are highly attentive and would take your whole medical record history thoroughly rather than push you like a revolving door system. Unfortunately only about ¹⁄₅ times I ever receive upstanding service like that.
Second, pharmacy: There has been multiple instances the pharmacy made significant errors (e.g., count wrong number of pills, sent prescription to wrong external pharmacy). However, at least they were very apologetic and helpful in correcting any errors, an attitude I could not say for some of the NP or docs there.
Third, the deadly wait: The inefficiency here is whack. No matter if you make an appointment or not, expect at least a 30 minute wait. If lucky you will have two people who work at front desk to schedule and check people in – one man who is fast but I am certain he’s a robot and a girl who looks like she came from high school. The latter person takes about ~20 minutes to intake one person I kid you not. So after you wait about 30 minutes in line (or more) then you should expect approximately another 30+ minutes for a doctor.
Boyton, I understand that you have to serve a large population given it is located in a prime location for students. But students are people too and they deserve decent medical care/​attention, particularly if we are actually paying for the service and putting in the time. Seriously, if you want to torture a loved one or friend, recommend them to their waiting room.

Stepped on two nails at the same time last night. Called over to boyton this morning, got the wrong menu choice, girl said she’d transfer me exactly where I needed to go. She transferred me directly back into the beginning of the menus. I talk to an appointment lady, she takes my name and DOB, tells me I need to talk to someone else. I get transferred to a lady who I can barely understand, takes a bunch of information, transfers me back. This fourth lady just tells me to come in, nothing about an appointment, anything, just a very abrupt come in.
So I come in. The lady behind the desk says sorry I can’t see you without an appointment, and I can’t just have a nurse give you a tetanus shot.
First, and last, time I try to go to boyton. I have no idea what the skill of your doctors or nurses are, but it doesn’t matter, you don’t have the customer service.
Without customer service, you have no business.
After I emailed about my experience I did get a call from someone claiming they could see me right away. However, I’ve heard that before, and I believe first impressions are accurate.

I should first mention that the dental clinic is really good. But other than that,
Don’t waste your time and money!
Unfortunately they DO NOT even have a five minutes tolerance although they keep people waiting there for almost an hour.
I am a student at university of Minnesota and I happen to go to this clinic a lot since it is close (it is on campus). I hate my experience there though. Normally, I go there for simple problems (like a cold). I am always on time and they still make me wait for more than 30 mins (with appointment), whenever I go there. That’s okay though, until today they really pissed me off. I was only 5 minutes late. and the guy at check in asked me to wait for him to go and see if the doctor can still see you. He made me stand there for 10 minutes and then he told me that I NEED TO RESCHEDULE.
So after I talk to the supervisor they finally bumped me in Urgent Care. And I realize that apparently the nurse put the time I checked in 15 minutes later. (It was not my fault though. I was only a few minutes late and the guy at the check in stood me up for 10 minutes)
My problem with Boynton is that they do not care about your schedule and how much you should wait there to see a doctor, but if you are 5 minutes late they are gonna reschedule your appointment. More over their doctors are terrible in realizing your problem. I mean you will essentially end up visiting another doctor somewhere else.

Boynton Clinic is large and offers many different services. Their eye clinic doesn’t have much of a selection for frames, but you can find some cute Kate Spade glasses. Their lenses are really reasonably priced. I was quoted at $ 270 for my high-​index lenses with edge polishing and all coatings. The best part is that they are local so it will only take a week to get back your shiny new pair of glasses.
Now for the clinic. I would recommend avoiding the student clinic at all costs. In my years as a student, I never had to go to the clinic. It wasn’t until two weeks after graduation that I desperately showed up seeking help. Boynton’s doctors, one in particular, needed to be schooled on how medical treatment should work. I was having trouble breathing with chest and back pains and was exhausted. I told all my symptoms to Dr. Kim, but he couldn’t get past them as individual ailments. My chest pains could be treated with Prilosec. My fatigue would have to be addressed by my family doctor, etc. I was frustrated because he wasn’t listening. Finally I had to tell him that I thought I had bronchitis or pneumonia. He basically threw me a bone and ordered an x-​ray of my chest. Good thing too or he would’ve never believed that I really did have bronchitis.
Avoid the student clinic and specifically Dr. Kim. WebMD could probably do a better job at diagnosing you.

Boynton Health Service is a great clinic. I feel like the people who work there really care and know a lot about college students’ health.