The University Medical Centre: A student’s perspective

Over 515,000 students attended Ontario Universities in 2015/16, including 60,000 international students from abroad (https://ontario universityes.ca/resources/data/numbers). First-year students who are away from home find themselves needing a new primary care physician. While a few researchers have examined student health care within the university setting in regard to mental health (Evans, 1999), sexual health (Habel et al., 2018)., and health promotion (Griebler et al., 2017), there has been little research focused on the first-year student experience in finding primary care. Our study examined communication pathways, wayfinding and misconceptions students have related to the university medical centre. Patient centered care involves a partnership between a healthcare provider and their patient. In this partnership healthcare professionals must consider the patient experience and be more informative, mindful, empathic and collaborative to provide the best possible care (Epstein & Street, 2011).