When Johnny Ramirez started his UF career, many of his new friends had the same advice on what to do when he had too much to drink.
"You can't take them to Shands," was the advice from Ramirez's friends if an underaged classmate showed signs of alcohol poisoning.
Instead, they told Ramirez, a criminology senior, to take drunken friends to an off-campus facility to avoid punishment from UF.
However, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, UF's assistant vice president for Student Affairs, said advice like this is not only mistaken but potentially dangerous.
Mastrodicasa hopes to dispel this rumor and others with an educational campaign this fall to alert students of actual emergency room policies.
Liam Holtzman, associate medical director for the Emergency Department at Shands at UF, said in most cases, no one is notified if a student is admitted for alcohol-related reasons because students 18 years and older are legally considered adults.
"Nobody has the right to your information without your permission," Holtzman said.
And contrary to what some students may think, he said Shands doesn't call parents unless the patient requests it, although they often find out later on when the bill arrives.
Revealing personal information to any party, be it the police, UF or a student's parents, would violate both UF policy and federal law under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, called HIPAA, he said.
UF's emergency room policy states: "If a UF student is seen in the emergency room for an alcohol related incident, police are NOT notified by the staff of the hospital."
These policies apply to area hospitals, including Shands and North Florida Regional Medical Center, Mastrodicasa said.
Mastrodicasa said she recorded a public service announcement Sunday about the emergency room issue for radio station 97.3 FM to air as part of the campaign.
The next step to spread the word to students will be adding a section to UF's Web site explaining the policy, she said.
"A lot of this is about word of mouth," Mastrodicasa said. "What we're going to do is try to notify and inform key people."
Mastrodicasa also said she plans to look into incorporating emergency room policy into First-Year Florida curriculum.
"Getting the word out to students on anything is always challenging," Mastrodicasa said. "So we're looking for any available avenue."
And that's an effort Ramirez said students would appreciate.
"They're better off being taken care of than taking a chance," he said.
