A slew of colleges in the Midwest began administering student swine flu vaccinations Tuesday, highlighting the variety of responses schools have taken to combat the spread of the virus.

Colleges have been striving to limit person-to-person contact by advising students who exhibit H1N1 symptoms to stay home and avoid university health facilities.

For most of the semester at the University of Wisconsin, University Health Services made treatment recommendations to students with H1N1 over the phone to further limit this contact.

However, this phone-reliant system caused difficulty for some students.

Phone calls unreliable, trouble for some

While H1N1 symptoms have proved to be mostly mild for students at UW, its transmissibility led to the implementation of strict guidelines for self-treatment and isolation.

Sick students have been advised to move themselves to a place they could be alone in a closed room. For students in dorms, this means finding a house to stay in or movement to one of several isolation rooms across campus.

According to documents obtained by The Badger Herald, a complaint was filed with UHS by a dorm resident within the past year, detailing a specific case where a phone call concerning H1N1 went awry. In the complaint, a student explains he or she called UHS to set up an appointment after developing mild H1N1 symptoms.

After being told an appointment would not be necessary and he or she “definitely had H1N1,” the student was instructed to leave his or her dorm and preferably return home.

The student’s father then called UHS to request an appointment so it could be confirmed it was necessary for him to drive from his home five hours away to pick up the student.

“[The UHS employee] said they would not see me because they were certain I had H1N1 and that I needed to leave the dorm soon or (be) put in a confined room by myself,” the complaint reads.

The father then picked the student up and drove him or her to an urgent care center across town. The complaint says after the student explained his or her situation, “they were in shock” the student had been diagnosed over the phone.

The doctor said just by looking at them they could tell the student did not have H1N1 and the symptoms described over the phone were not enough to diagnose someone with H1N1.

The student was then diagnosed with the common cold.

Policies differ among schools

UHS Executive Director Sarah Van Orman said the protocol for responding to students over the phone is based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Called the 2009-2010 Influenza Season Triage Algorithm for Adults (older than 18 years of age) With Influenza-Like Illness, the recommendations detail what symptoms require further contact of a health care provider or the suspecting of an alternate illness.

The document states it is meant only to assist physicians and others under their supervision, and it is not intended for an over-the-phone diagnosis of the illness, as the complaint suggests occurred with the student.

Van Orman said UHS has stuck very closely to the triage document, meaning treatment recommendations, and not diagnoses, are the goal.

At Michigan State University, Olin Health Services Nursing Administrator Dawn Boechler said nurses answering phone questions are not allowed to diagnose students with any illness, including H1N1.

If symptoms persist, however, the university is advising students to come in for an appointment.

Peggy Agger, a registered nurse at UW-La Crosse, said as H1N1 symptoms are very specific to the virus, the chances of recommending incorrect treatment to a student are low.

She said students who are misdiagnosed most likely exhibit a more serious symptom such as a high temperature, meaning they should stay away from campus activities anyway.

However, UW-La Crosse’s student health center has not been diagnosing students over the phone or recommending concerned students stay home from a clinic visit if they wish for further clarification of their symptoms.

Changing numbers mean changing advice

Now that reports of influenza-like illnesses have declined from a peak at the end of October, the university has begun to adjust its treatment of students reporting symptoms.

“At this point, we’re having everyone come in because … we’re not that busy,” Van Orman said.

However, if case numbers pick up again and UHS becomes busy, the center will return to recommending phone calls over visits.

While some students say they have felt pressured to stay home this semester, Van Orman said there was never a point in the semester where UHS outright prohibited students from visiting the clinic, and it is not likely they will in the future.