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Physicians

You can see the physician at HCDS for the same things you would see your family doctor for.

An appointment is needed for all visits to the Health Service unless you are visiting the Urgent Care Clinic which is on a first come first served basis.

When you make your appointment you will be asked the reason for seeing the doctor or nurse. This is to provide the appropriate amount of time for dealing with your problem.

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Nursing

All nurse appointments must be booked in advance. Some of the things a student might see the nurse for are:

• allergy injections - students must have started their allergy injections with their allergist at home first before getting allergy shots with Student Health.
• immunization
• TB testing
• bloodwork previously ordered by a physician
• completion of immunization forms required for academic programs, including antibody titres
• dressing changes following surgery or injury as directed by a physician
• travel counselling and immunization (counselling by appointment only)
• there will be a charge for some of the services provided by our nursing staff (see Price List for Uninsured Services)

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Travel Appointments

(you must bring your immunization records to all travel appointments)

This is not an insured service and must be paid for at the time of your visit. There is a fee of $75.00 including your nurse counselling and physician appointments. The vaccines are separate and prices are listed in our Price List for Uninsured Services.

Appointments should ideally be booked 4 weeks or more before your trip. You must download and complete the TRAVEL FORM which must be brought to your appointment. You must also bring your immunization records with you or your visit cannot be completed and you may be charged for subsequent visits.

For short stay travel (2 weeks or less) to resorts a comprehensive travel consultation is not usually required. A 10 minute nursing appointment ($10.00) to receive Hepatitis A vaccine and update routine immunizations is usually sufficient. If you are travelling to the Dominican Republic you will also require a physician appointment for Malaria prophylaxis.

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Psychiatry

Welcome to the Division of Psychiatry, Queen's Health, Counselling and Disability Services.

The Division served as the core of the Queen's Student Health Service during its modern inception over thirty years ago. Currently we have one psychiatrist on staff. All staff work part-time at the Service. The clinic secretary is Christina. While the Division is formally a part of Health, Counselling and Disability Services, we maintain separate record keeping, scheduling, procedures and policies. As well, the Division operates on different hours than do the other parts of the Service.

BY REFERRAL

New patients are accepted on a referral basis. That means that you will have been first seen and assessed by either a physician in the community, at the Health Service, or by a counsellor of the Counselling Service. We do this for two reasons; firstly, it provides you with immediate care, as there can sometimes be unavoidable delays in getting to see one of the Division staff. Secondly, it offers you greater accessibility to the Division staff by allowing us to focus on those students who require our particular expertise and skills. The counsellors, the family physicians, and the nurses at the Health Service are highly skilled and provide expert care. This referral policy allows us to focus our limited resources on those most in need of our particular services.

CANCELLATION POLICY

Failure to attend appointments creates considerable delay in the provision of care for yourself, and blocks access to care for other students in need. It also creates a considerable expense to the Clinic and to the health care providers whose livelihood is dependent on the services provided.

In order to encourage appropriate use of our service and topromote accessibility, a cancellation policy is in effect. If you fail to cancel an appointment without giving at least twenty-four hours notice, or if you fail to attend an appointment, you will be subject to a charge (see Price List for Uninsured Services). Under exceptional circumstances this fee can be waived and is open to further discussion with your clinician. Unpaid bills will be dealt with in the same way as other debt to the university. Owing money to the clinic does not prohibit you from seeing your doctor. To assist you in cancelling appointments, the need for which may arise for all sorts of unavoidable reasons, it is possible to phone the Division's number and leave a message on the answering machine at any hour of the day or night (613-533-2508). Alternatively, e-mail can be sent to misenerc@queensu.ca.

MEDICAL CERTIFICATES

In the event that your illness may be interfering with your academic performance, we suggest you contact the departmental office of the courses involved as soon as possible. Leaving a phone message or e-mail with the departmental office or with the professor will go a long way towards protecting your academic program. In the event that certification of your illness is required by your department or by your professor, the Division staff will happily provide this documentation free of charge. We have a policy of maintaining strict confidentiality of our records within the bounds of law. This policy means that we will not release any information about you unless we have your explicit permission to do so. This usually will require you to sign a Release of Information Form. Where circumstances permit, we would prefer that you review the information before it is sent. We will sometimes send a letter to the Dean of your faculty, rather than use a standardized form sent to your professor. The use of personalized letters to the Dean has proven particularly successful where there may be significant accommodations required of your academic program. The Dean's office often serves as a good advocate for your interests. There will be no charge made for the provision of Medical Certificates or such letters on your behalf. There are, however, movements under foot within the provincial government, which may change the regulations around the provision of letters. As you may already know, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan does not compensate physicians for the provision of letters. Any appointment that was made strictly for the purpose of obtaining a medical note is also not funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan. It is the direction of the Ministry of Health that we bill such a service provision directly to you or, pending the new legislation, directly to the party requesting this information. You can discuss any concerns about such charges with your physician. In exceptional circumstances these charges may be waived or reduced.

In the event that other forms or reports are required for the purposes of insurance, legal assistance, third party medical reports, etcetera, you will be subject to a charge for these. However, it is again the intention of the Division, where possible, not to charge you for these directly but to make the charge to the requesting third party. Again, your physician, as well as the Division secretary will discuss this with you before any billing is made.

LIMITS TO CONFIDENTIALITY

Please take special note, while we have a strict policy of confidentiality and division members take every reasonable precaution to protect your confidences, there are legal limits to confidentiality. These laws make specific requirements of our professional staff to report health card fraud, child abuse and children in need of protection, unsafe drivers, unsafe pilots and certain other transportation operators, as well as sexually abusive health professionals. We are also required to take specific action if a person, on the basis of a mental disorder, poses a danger to themselves or to others. All patients of the Service will be asked to sign a consent form to allow the various divisions of Health, Counselling and Disability Services to communicate and coordinate patient care. This consent is optional. Most students expect we already do coordinate care, as permitted under the Personal Health Information Protection Act, but we prefer to have your explicit permission. Your clinician would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have about these very important matters.

OUR PRIVACY COMMITMENT TO OUR PATIENTS

Collection of Personal Health Information

At Health, Counselling and Disability Services we protect your personal health information. Personal health information includes information such as your name, date of birth, address, health history, records of your visits to our various clinics and the care you receive during those visits.

Uses and Disclosure of Personal Health Information

We use and share your personal health information to:

1. Care for you and obtain payment for that care
2. Teach healthcare professionals
3. Undertake Research Ethics Board approved research and compile statistics
4. Plan, administer and manage our internal operations
5. Conduct risk management and quality improvement activities such as sending patient satisfaction surveys.
   

Regulatory colleges, such as the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, who also have their own strict privacy guidelines, also have access to this information for their purposes of audit, quality control and accountability.

Your Choices

You may withdraw your consent to share your personal health information for research, fund-raising or patient satisfaction surveys. Withdrawal of consent is not retroactive and must be provided in writing. You have the right to see and correct your personal health records.

Important Information

We take steps to protect your personal health information from theft, loss, non-authorized access, copying, modification, use, disclosure and disposal.

We take steps to ensure that everyone who performs services for us protects your privacy and only uses your personal health information for the purposes for which you consented.

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you have any questions or concerns about privacy at our division or in the wider Health, Counselling & Disability Services, or about how to access your personal health information, please contact Dr. Michael Condra at Health, Counselling & Disability Services, 146 Stuart Street, Kingston Ontario, K7L 3N6, Phone: 613-533-6000 ext. 74932, e-mail: condram@queensu.ca. If you are not satisfied completely by the response, you may contact the office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for the university – Diane Kelly, e-mail: diane.kelly@queensu.ca. If not completely satisfied with the response, you may contact the Privacy Commissioner of Ontario at 1-800-387-00731.

HEALTH INSURANCE

In the situation where you hold insurance other than Ontario Provincial Health Insurance (OHIP), wherever possible the charge for the services provided will be made to your insuring parties, such as through the reciprocal billing agreement of the Canada Health Act. Quebec residents, as you know, do not have such a mechanism so you may be subject to charges for those services that are not completely covered or compensated by your plan. Please discuss any concerns with your clinician.

TEACHING SERVICE

Staff members within the Division have teaching appointments with the university. It is possible that you may encounter some of the staff in these other roles. Be reassured we do adhere to strict confidentiality; however, if particular concerns arise for you, we will be happy to discuss them with you. Also working at the Division as part of our teaching role are Residents. Residents are medical graduates who are taking advanced training in psychiatry or in family medicine. These senior trainees work with considerable independence, but remain under the supervision and the responsibility of the attending physician. If a resident is providing your direct care, this resident meets regularly and discusses your care with the attending psychiatrist. You are also free to meet with the attending psychiatrist if you have any particular concerns about the care provided.

IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

In the event that you experience an emergency outside the usual operating hours of the clinic, there are some options available to you. Each physician at the Division of Psychiatry has different arrangements, so it will be important for you to ascertain from your clinician their availability after hours and what other resources they would recommend to you if you experience a crisis after hours. It is important to note that in an immediate life and death type situation you are best served by attending an emergency department, either at the Hotel Dieu Hospital or Kingston General Hospital. It is important to note that the Hotel Dieu Hospital operates as primarily a walk-in clinic and has limited hours. Kingston General Hospital offers 24-hour emergency care but is restricted to the most severe cases. Waiting times in the emergency rooms can vary considerably. Access to inpatient psychiatric beds is best made through the Hotel Dieu Hospital, as that is where psychiatric beds are sited currently. However, late at night (with the Hotel Dieu Emergency being closed), the only option remaining is to go to Kingston General Hospital. Emergencies in these circumstances are issues of immediate dangers to self or others, or rapid deterioration in mental state. If you have specific non-urgent physical health concerns, these are best dealt with through your family physician. In a life-threatening physical health emergency, again, you are best served by going to the nearest hospital. If the matter is not life threatening but is more of an urgent nature related to your psychiatric care at the division, you can call the 24-hour answering machine at 533-2508 and leave a message. These messages are picked up on the morning of the next working day and will be addressed by the staff available that day.

There is a 24-hour confidential community based Mental Health Crisis Line and they can be reached by calling 613-544-4229.

There is a confidential telephone befriending and referral service known as Telephone Aid Line Kingston (TALK) and it is available at 613-544-1771 from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. daily.

S.H McNevin, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C)
Director, Division of Psychiatry
Queen's Health, Counselling and Disability Services

IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS

PROFESSIONAL STAFF