When on campus, the added task of being responsible for yourself and knowing how to do simple things, such as scheduling a doctor’s appointment, can seem daunting at first. In the beginning of the school year, it’s important to know about the McKinley Health Center, the services they offer and how to schedule an appointment.

McKinley is the University’s student health care facility. It offers a wide range of services, as simple as scheduling allergy appointments to performing X-rays.

McKinley can be a confusing building to navigate. There are three different wings students can go to when scheduling an online appointment: West 1, West 2 and East 1.

McKinley has multiple options for students outside of routine medical problems. Dial-A-Nurse allows students to speak with a nurse directly over the phone. The nurse helps students assess their situations and discuss what avenues would be the most effective for treatment.

Students may also walk in without an appointment if the medical problem is urgent, but not life-threatening, to have an evaluation of their state of well-being.

When looking to schedule an appointment online, MyMcKinley is an app students can utilize to schedule appointments and view their past and upcoming appointments. Students can fill out medical history forms and upload them for doctors and nurses to view and use at McKinley.

Dariusz Muta, sophomore in ACES, scheduled appointments with McKinley throughout the year when he developed a nasal virus last October. While Muta made his appointments on the phone, he wishes he would’ve made them online to save time.

“I would prefer to schedule appointments online because of how quick it is. It also benefits me as a student because of how busy my schedule is,” Muta said.

Muta had a relatively stress-free process at McKinley for his first appointment.

“The check-in process was really easy and simple. I was able to get checked in relatively quickly whereas the kids who were walk-ins were waiting for a while,” Muta said.

Once signed into MyMcKinley using your NetID and password, navigate toward the appointment tab at the top of the page. This is where students can schedule an appointment by stating their main reason for their upcoming visit.

Along with providing a phone number, students must explain their symptoms and reasons for the visit to help physicians fully understand the situation.

After filling out the “Reason(s) for Visit” section, students will need to search for the health center’s next available appointments. There are three sections: “Clinic,” “Reason” and “Provider” to fill out that help narrow down the best available appointments that also match the student’s responses.

It can also be beneficial to research the multiple physicians and providers who work at McKinley. Learning a little bit more about a doctor’s current and past fields of work can help patients understand their physician’s expertise.

Sam Herbert, sophomore in LAS, also visited McKinley during his freshman year due to pink eye. Herbert scheduled his appointment online using MyMcKinley.

“I just had to give my name at the front desk. It was like going as a walk-in but having an appointment already set; that’s how fast it was,” Herbert said.

Herbert found the process to be efficient and would recommend it to other students.

“I would recommend it to people who are good at planning in advance because at some points, you get sick suddenly and only have the option of a walk-in,” Herbert said.

Once the “Reason(s) for Visit” section has been filled out, students will be directed to a calendar where they can choose a date. The calendar is relatively intuitive — available days are in black and those not available are in red. The health center is closed on the weekends. 

After choosing the appointment date, the page will display a list of appointments for that day with varying times, clinics and physicians to choose from.

Now you have officially finished scheduling an appointment through McKinley. You can cancel your appointment anytime back on the home page. Make sure to also check the MyMcKinley page at least once before the day of the appointment for any possible updates.

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