Student Health Services expands to offer 24/7 medical advice


On Nov. 20, Student Health Services (SHS) launched an after-hours answering service, an additional feature of the nationally accredited medical home.

“For a long time, we have wanted to give students the ability to access medical advice after-hours when we’re not here,” said Dr. Oscar Loynaz, director of FIU Student Health Services at Modesto A. Maidique Campus.

NursePhoneIn partnership with Nurse Response©, the service connects students to a customer service agent, who will take some general information, and then patches them through to a licensed Registered Nurse (RN). The RN assesses the student’s symptoms and recommends next steps. Those options may include self-care, such as applying ice packs or taking over-the-counter medication, waiting to make an appointment with SHS the next day, going to an urgent care facility, or in the worst-case scenario, calling an ambulance or going to a hospital Emergency Room.

Loynaz said that he hopes the after-hour service will be a convenient way for students to get medical advice and limit medical issues becoming bigger than they need to be.

“We want students to call, even if they think it’s something silly,” Loynaz said. “If they’re having any kind of health concern, they can call us and have a conversation with a nurse and determine the best course of action.”

Students can access the after-hours answering service by calling Student Health Services on both campuses: MMC: 305-348-2401 (Option 2) and BBC: 305-919-5620 (Option 2). More information about the after-hours service can be found here.