Abstract:
Health of undergraduates, both physical and mental, is an important prerequisite to
academic and personal development. In Srilanka, National Universities provide primary
medical care to all internal students free of charge. As expected, students with suffering
from chronic ailments such as asthma, eczema (recurrent skin rashes) have to consult
frequently. However, it has been observed that some students with minor self-limiting
ailments, consult University Medical Officers (UMOs) very frequently. In a telephone
survey of 10 university medical officers 8 stated that they find it difficult to cope with the
workload; students who consult frequently add substantially to the workload, and they
are a considerable source of stress to them.
Aim of this prospective case control study is to assess the effect of frequent
consultations on workload of UMOs, and to determine physical, psychological, sociodemographic
and academic aspects of students who consult frequently (frequent
consulters).Instruments used for data collection were a self-administered questionnaire
for socio-demographic data, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) to assess
psychological disturbance among the cases and controls, an encounter form to record
findings of index consultations, and the students’ medical records.
The top 10 % of consulters during the previous year were considered as frequent
consulters (164 cases), and the others less frequent consulters (164 controls). At the
first consultation (index consultation), during the study period of 6 months data was
collected. Chi square was used to assess association between characteristics of
frequent consulters and consultation frequency, and multiple logistic regressions was
carried out to remove confounding effect of predictor variables. Significant associations
with frequent consultation were being a first year student (OR=1.99); being away from
home; cannabis use (OR=4.86); loss of love relationship (OR=3.38); being in
employment while studying (OR=3.68); not practicing self care (OR= 3.59) having a
chronic illness (OR=3.59); high score on the GHQ (OR=4.04).
Frequent consulters contribute to 30% of UMOs, workload. Only 10% of frequent
consulters suffered from chronic ailments which need frequent consultations. Apart from
chronic diseases and psychological distress, there are other factors that account for
frequent consultations unique to these young adults such as drug abuse, loss of love
relationship.
