ecdoesit said:
I dont blame them. UCLA charges 7 bucks for a day of parking permit.
Unlike other modern cities, our transportation system sucks. Unless, they could setup something to ease the parking issue. There is really not much incentives.
In addition to cost, I think our patients are very nice people to sacrifice their time and the whole body to let the future dentists to gain experience and confidence. Seriously, who else would like to take out 3 hrs of their time to stay in a dental office!
Right. So how about UCLA giving these patients incentives. Obviously none of the wealthy residents around UCLA don't want students to be poking around their teeth so we're getting lower income people who live farther away. Obviously, these people have jobs and families and every hour counts (because, unfortunately, time is money). And, in all honesty, the quality of care is secondary to an experienced dentist; I visited UCLA SOD once and had a resident break out a dental book to figure out what to call a particular area in my mouth. In the end, I paid $60 out of pocket for a diagnosis of "I don't know" (no x-rays were taken, I had my own). Sure you get the luxury of multiple opinions and a faculty member hovering around you every so often, but, is it really worth it in the end? Especially if all you need are fillings?
So a typical patient will spend an hour in traffic to get to UCLA, spend $7 for parking, wait an hour for a student dentist, spend 2-3 hours in a dental chair and then fork over whatever his/her insurance didn't cover (that is, if he/she even has insurance). And, if the patient needs multiple follow-ups, the patient may need to compromise his/her continuity of care.
I apologize if this post sounds a bit harsh. I'm just bothered by this whole system. Patients should be rewarded by sacrificing their time and money. Even people who donate their bodies to science get some sort of compensation (or, at least, their families receive a payment). Most of the UCLA faculty are aware of problems associated with their clinical training yet are providing little aid to allure patients. Or, is there something that they're planning to implement to make this whole process easier on both the students and patients?
I agree with ecdoesit. Parking costs just add to the bill. But for someone who lives in East LA (provided they have issues with USC), she/he will have to make multiple bus transfers and, as a result, waste more time and money. Maybe this is a dumb idea but why don't students go "into the field"? In other words, why don't we set up more mobile clinics in these problem areas? In addition, the university should give these students credit for the work they perform at these clinics. I personally volunteer with a few dental students at one of these clinics and they told me that none of their hours count for their graduation requirement.
And, while I'm on a roll, why can't UCLA undergrads get the insurance to be seen at UCLA SOD? When I had GSHIP, they gave me CIGNA as my only option. Note that UCLA dental clinics do not accept CIGNA (you can be seen but you would need to file your own claims which, I know personally, is a big explitive). I believe GSHIP changed it's dental provider but heard it is still not within the UCLA dental clinics' network.
Ugh, I apologize for the length. I'm just frustrated by UCLA and how they're seemingly overlooking a major problem. Or maybe I'm just majorly uninformed. If that's the case, someone please straighten me out.
I just can't handle being in debt past 300K
