Don't trade in mom and dad just yet

You're alone in a room for two, if you are lucky. There is one red button next to each bed, wiring that bed to assistance and care. Each bed is freshly made and has its own sterile curtain for privacy - and maybe propriety. There is no television and there is no computer, and although in an age of technology this may be an anomaly, to have both, or even one, would be excessive.

Along the east hallway, in the basement of Cushing, these rooms line up, one after the other, waiting for students to fill their empty beds. The first room is occupied at the moment; a cursory side glance shows the smiling patient lying under the covers, with the cause of the smile apparent: a break in the monotony in the form of visitors.

Boston College is one of the few colleges left that still has an infirmary. Universities such as Boston University and Northeastern University do not provide in-patient or after hours care on campus and instead refer students to local hospitals. Many colleges have ended these medical services, either because they see them as a drain of money or because of a perceived liability. Whether it is a sinus infection, the flu, or mononucleosis, the infirmary at BC provides 24-hour care to students.

"When you have a family at home, there is always someone to take care of you. But if you are just alone, feeling lousy, there is an option here to have relief of suffering. Ninety-nine percent of students here most likely do not have a thermometer...Is it [the infirmary] necessary? No. Is it a service that is helpful? Yes," says Dr. Thomas Nary, director of Health Services.

Between theory and practice, though, some students feel the infirmary mislays its mission. Caroline Merck, A&S '10, found herself in the infirmary after being told by Health Services that she almost certainly had appendicitis. But after spending the night, she woke up in the morning and was told something different. "The next morning, I sat in the infirmary and waited for the doctor to arrive. When he did, I was asked all the same questions as the night before, and I was told I probably had something else. I stayed over again that night and still felt terrible," Merck says.

When Belen Michelis, CSOM '10, found herself staying overnight at the infirmary, she experienced the same confusion as Merck. Her frustrations did not help the headache she had originally come in for. "I felt like they didn't know what was wrong with me or how to help me," Michelis says.

In the Health Services Patient Bill of Rights and Responsibilities, it says that every patient has a right to know the diagnosis, the prognosis, the treatment that will be used, how risky this treatment is, and whether it will hurt and for how long. A person admitted to the infirmary holds this right, but when doctors have yet to figure out this information themselves, students can find themselves lost in a maze of miscommunication.

Health Services uses a triage of medical staff to help students when they first arrive, says Nary. A nurse will first see students to assess what is wrong with them, and after that they will usually be seen by a physician or nurse practitioner. When students stay in the infirmary, a physician will first review them and then suggest that it would be best to stay. "It really depends on the degree of illness … It is so individual," Nary says.

After feeling sick for a month, Noel Nacvi, CSOM '10, finally gave in and visited Health Services. Diagnosed with a sinus infection, Nacvi decided to stay in the infirmary. "I wanted to stay there. It turned out I had a sinus infection while I was there, and so they treated me," says Nacvi.

Nacvi stayed there for two nights and received antibiotics for his sinus infection.

"It was very good service. They had very nice and very efficient doctors and nurses that would check up on you. If you wanted to have anything, they were very prompt in giving it to you. They really kept on top of me. They didn't wait for you to come to them," Nacvi says.

"The response here is a lot faster than in most hospitals," Nary says.

For inpatients, there are two nurses that work until 11 p.m., and then there is one nurse and one aide working at night, except for weekends. During the day and night, the staff will take a patient's vital signs and attend to them if they have a headache or any other discomforts.

Even with these services though, many students decline to stay in the infirmary. "Most students want to push themselves. We have more of a problem getting them to stay compared to those who want to stay," Nary says.

For Merck, neither the infirmary's service nor its medicine could convince her to stay again. "I felt like I had been through a crazy science experiment. In the end, it wasn't appendicitis or anything I had been told, it was a virus. I felt like I had sat hours in a stark, chilly room for nothing," Merck says.

As the flu season started in November and will last until the end of March, BC's infirmary services have plenty more students to serve this year. "During flu season, we will be full - around 10, 12, or 13 people. It is rare, or rather less likely, that we have a census of four to five." Nary says.

With the Globe reporting in February that at Massachusetts General Hospital's network of clinics and hospitals, the number of patients testing positive for influenza was already 21 percent higher than for the entire previous winter, the flu in New England and the rest of the country has proved to be a consistent gripe. Although it changes from year to year, Nary says that this year especially has already seen a rise in the amount of people treated and seen as inpatients at BC.

"It coincides with national statistics," he says.

After staying in the infirmary for one day, Michelis decided to leave against medical advice.

"I felt perfectly fine, and they, in the end, were keeping me there for no reason. They said I had to stay, the doc wants you here. They were very hesitant about giving me the dismissal form, but they finally did, and I left. I just wanted to go back to my room," Michelis says. Out of inpatient care, Michelis took her antibiotics as Health Services checked up on her via phone instead.