On Thursday, University Health Services (UHS) began implementing a pilot project for online appointment scheduling through the ANGEL Course Management System.

Ellen Nagy, marketing manager for UHS, said the service can give students the ability to make an appointment any time of the day or night.

"There has been a combination of interest expressed by USG [Undergraduate Student Government] and individual students," she said.

But Nagy said there were a few concerns regarding the new program.

UHS wanted to assure there was online confidentiality when it came to student medical records.

That is why the appointments can be made through ANGEL and not through regular e-mail, Nagy said. ANGEL provides the confidentiality that is needed.

Another concern was that students would use this service for urgent medical problems.

"E-mail is not a good choice for medical emergencies," Nagy said. "We don't want seriously ill people doing this at night when they should be talking to someone."

An example of appropriate use would be if a student has a cold, but is not running a very high fever, Nagy said.

Current USG President Rubina Javeri said she was excited to see the execution of the new program, which was one of her platform issues.

"It's something we really worked hard on to get implemented before we left office," she said.

Javeri said she wanted to be able to get this service to the students, and hopes they take advantage of it.

"So many students talk about expanding Ritenour and we want to allow them to be serviced even if it's just by logging on," she said. "We can expand Ritenour through convenient online services."

Karen Donohoe (sophomore-nursing) said this project is a very good idea and she would definitely make use of it.

"It's difficult to find time during the day to call and make appointments," she said.

Students will sign into ANGEL with their usual user ID and password and select the new appointment requests group for University Health Services. They will then be asked to select the type of appointment needed, date and time for requested appointment, and the symptoms they have.

William Asbury, vice president of student affairs, said this service had been under discussion for about a year, adding that one of the goals of student affairs is to move more services online. He credited Javeri and UHS Director Dr. Margaret Spear for supporting the idea.

Asbury said this program is related to Penn State President Graham Spanier's goal to make the university more student-centered.

"It makes it easier for students to access a service from anywhere they have access to a computer," Asbury said.

"It really makes it more accessible to students."

Because the program running this semester is currently in its testing stage, only specific types of appointments will be available online.

Current appointment types that are available include upper respiratory problems, physicals and allergy injections. Women can reserve times for general physicals (yearly exam), Depo-Provera (birth control), sexually transmitted infections and any follow-up for women's health.

The database is checked every hour, Nagy said, and students will be notified via ANGEL when their appointment is scheduled.

Nagy said if a student needs to cancel an appointment he or she can do so through ANGEL up to an hour before the time scheduled. If it is under an hour before the appointment, a student would have to call to cancel.

Nagy said UHS hopes to add more options in the summer and have the program completely operational by fall 2003.

"We hope students will like it and use it because it works well for them and it works well for us," Nagy said.