Hospital

A hospital today is an institution for professional health care provided in part by physicians and nurses.

Types

The best-known type of hospital is the 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; and specialized facilities for surgery, plastic surgery, childbirth, bioassay laboratories, and so forth. Larger cities may have many different hospitals of varying sizes and facilities.

Related Topics:
Disease - Injury - Emergency ward - A&E department - Emergency medical services - Intensive care - Surgery - Plastic surgery - Childbirth

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Very large hospitals are often called Medical Centers and usually conduct operations in virtually every field of modern medicine.

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Types of specialized hospitals include trauma centers, children's hospitals, seniors' hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric problems (see psychiatric hospital), pulmonary diseases, and so forth.

Related Topics:
Trauma center - Children's hospitals - Psychiatric - Psychiatric hospital - Pulmonary

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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.

Related Topics:
Campus - Universities - Medical research - United States - Profit - Non-profit

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Many hospitals have hospital volunteer programs where people (usually students and senior citizens) can volunteer and provide various ancillary services.

Related Topics:
Hospital volunteer - Student - Senior citizen - Volunteer

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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). Clinics generally provide only outpatient services.

Related Topics:
Clinic - Government agency - Partnership

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