An institution in which certain kinds of illness are investigated and treated. The first documented hospital was Chinese, in 491. In the European Middle Ages the well-to-do were all treated at home, while the sick poor were cared for in a hospital attached to the local poor house. This pattern of care persisted into the 18th-c, when voluntary hospitals were built throughout the UK, and physicians and surgeons from the locality attended to the inmates without remuneration. With the advance of scientific medicine and the development of increasingly elaborate and specialized investigative and therapeutic procedures, all sections of the population whose medical needs might benefit from admission to hospital are now treated in hospital. In most developed countries today, hospitals are run as either private charities or public (state) institutions, with teaching hospitals closely related to the research departments of neighbouring universities. Most hospitals not only cater for emergencies of all types and for those whose illnesses develop acutely and unexpectedly (the acute hospital), but they contain specialized departments for non-emergency work and for numerous branches of medicine, such as cardiology and neurology. Other hospitals have become exclusively specialized, and cater for the needs of single categories of ill health, such as psychiatric, orthopaedic, maternity, paediatric, and geriatric hospitals. An additional important role is the provision of out-patient departments providing consultative services for the patients of general practitioners who are under care in their own home. In the 1990s, in the UK, hospitals were allowed to opt out of local health authority control, forming themselves into hospital trusts (or NHS trusts), the others remaining as directly-managed units (DMUs).
For the town in Ireland, see Hospital, County Limerick.A hospital is an institution for health care provided by physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other professionals.
Terminology
During the Middle Ages the hospital could serve other functions, such as almshouse for the poor, or hostel for pilgrims. Hospitals are usually distinguished from other types of medical facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients.
Types
General hospitals
The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, (in the UK known as a District General Hospital) which is set up to deal with many kinds of disease and injury, and typically has an emergency ward/A&E department to deal with immediate threats to health and the capacity to dispatch emergency medical services. A general hospital is typically the major health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care and long-term care;
Very large hospitals are often called Medical Centers in the US and usually conduct operations in virtually every field of modern medicine.
Most hospitals in the UK are run by the National Health Service.
Specialized hospitals
Types of specialized hospitals include trauma centers, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric problems (see psychiatric hospital), pulmonary diseases, and so forth.
A hospital may be a single building or a campus. Some hospitals are affiliated with universities for medical research and the training of medical personnel. Within the United States, many hospitals are for-profit, while elsewhere in the world most are non-profit.
Clinics
A medical facility smaller than a hospital is called a clinic, and is often run by a government agency for health services or a private partnership of physicians (in nations where private practice is allowed).
Other facilities
Many hospitals have hospital volunteer programs where people (usually students and senior citizens) can volunteer and provide various ancillary services.
Most cities (especially in the U.S.) have laws that require hospitals to have alternative backup power generators, in case of a blackout.
History
Early history of hospitals
In ancient cultures religion and medicine were linked.
Early hospitals in Asia
The Sinhalese (Sri Lankans) are perhaps responsible for introducing the concept of dedicated hospitals to the world. According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty written in the 6th century A.D., King Pandukabhaya (4th century BC) had lying-in-homes and hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country.
The first teaching hospital, however, where students were authorized to methodically practice on patients under the supervision of physicians as part of their education, was the Academy of Gundishapur in the Persian Empire.
Hospitals in the Roman Empire
The Romans created valetudinaria for the care of sick slaves, gladiators and soldiers around 100 BC.
Hospitals in medieval Europe
Medieval hospitals in Europe followed a similar pattern. Some hospitals were multi-function while others were founded for specific purposes such as leper hospitals, or as refuges for the poor or for pilgrims: not all cared for the sick.
Hospitals in the medieval Islamic world
Meanwhile Muslim hospitals developed a high standard of care between the eighth and twelfth centuries A.D. Hospitals built in Baghdad in the ninth and tenth centuries employed up to twenty-five staff physicians and had separate wards for different conditions.
Hospitals in the modern era
In Europe the medieval concept of Christian care evolved during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries into a secular one, but it was in the eighteenth century that the modern hospital began to appear, serving only medical needs and staffed with physicians and surgeons.
Guy's Hospital was founded in London in 1724 from a bequest by wealthy merchant Thomas Guy. Other hospitals sprang up in London and other British cities over the century, many paid for by private subscriptions. In the British American colonies the Pennsylvania General Hospital was chartered in Philadelphia in 1751, after £2,000 from private subscription was matched by funds from the Assembly.
When the Viennese General Hospital (Allgemeines Krankenhaus) opened in 1784 (instantly becoming the world's largest hospital), physicians acquired a new facility that gradually developed into the most important research center.
By the mid-nineteenth century most of Europe and the United States had established a variety of public and private hospital systems. In Continental Europe the new hospitals were generally built and run from public funds. In the UK the giant State-run National Health Service, founded in 1948 and one of the world's five largest employers, dominates the hospital sector.
In the United States the traditional hospital is a non-profit hospital, usually sponsored by a religious denomination. These hospitals are tax-exempt due to their charitable purpose, but provide only a minimum of charitable medical care. They are supplemented by large public hospitals in major cities and research hospitals often affiliated with a medical school.
Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Other Systems
The surgical, special procedures, radiological, intensive care unit, and patient rooms typically have medical gases, emergency and normal electrical power, and heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems.
Electrical
The reliability of the electrical power systems that serve a hospital is important.
Pneumatic Tube Conveying Systems
Pneumatic tube conveying systems are often used to move the actual paper prescriptions for medicines to the Pharmacies, and to move medicines, especially intra-venous, IV, bags to the patient care rooms.
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