UCSB Student Health Services

I’ve been relatively happy with my experience at Student Health so far. I am usually at the Sierra Clinic when I have an appointment, and have a good rapport with my physician, but I am not crazy about the receptionists there and at the lab. They are usually rude, do not respond, and condescend students when they are asking very reasonable questions. These really make the experience kind of the worst.

Before dealing with UCSB Student Health, I had never experienced a clinic with such an audacious combination of extremely rude and unhelpful staff, as well as such a high level of absolute incompetency and misdiagnosis, which all ultimately result in terrible patient care.

I love our student health! It’s easy to make an online appointment and all of the Nurse Practitioners are so friendly and helpful. They are really used to catering to college students, so I have always found them extremely easy to talk to. The wait times are really low when you have an appointment and the whole atmosphere of the center is warm and inviting, which is great because my doctors at home always have a huge wait time and the offices are cold and kind of depressing.
They have appointments for literally any problem that you are having, you can buy cheap medicine/​bandaids/​etc at the pharmacy, and if you have the student health insurance you can get free STI testing done by just picking up a form at the information desk and handing it to the staff at the lab area, after which they will send your results via a secure email system. Every experience I have had here has been great, and it’s given me a new interest in pursuing a career in nursing.

The first time I ever came to Student Health was not because I was sick, it was for a check-​up I needed in order to study abroad.
Staff is nice, doctors are nice, but they try too hard to force you into talking with their counselors. I’m in good health, a good student, and I don’t over do it with the extracurriculars. But they kept trying to find something wrong with me, so that I could talk to their counselors. In the end, I did. Waste of time and resources I say. No wonder they charge each student almost $ 500 a quarter.
The second and probably the last time I will ever come here, I had this cough that wouldn’t go away. It’s been 2.5 weeks since I’ve had it, and the doctor could not figure out what was causing it. She did however kept talking about me seeing one of their great counselors. When I refused, she just kept prying and want to know why I wouldn’t go and wouldn’t trust that I know how to handle myself. She wouldn’t let me leave until I agreed, because once I did, she rushed me and sent me off.
Later that day, I got even sicker. My cough was cough was still there, but now I had a fever, sweating, tired, headaches, a little sore, etc. Coming here made me sick.
Needless to say, the doctor was useless, and my friend in nursing school had a much better diagnosis of my mysterious cough than that doctor who I will remain nameless because from my experience here, they are all the same. I still had my cough a week later, and went to a real hospital who diagnosed me with exactly what my nursing school friend said it could be.
I need my doctor to be a doctor, and if I need a counselor or someone to talk to, I know where to go. Good thing I waive this ridiculous university health insurance every year. Waste of my time, and thankfully not money. Not coming back again.
My suggestion: if you want to get sick, come here. If you want to talk to a counselor, come here. If you want to waste your time and money, come here.