Informatics Educational Institutions & Programs

A hospital is a place where a person goes to be healed when they are sick or injured.^[1] The difference between a hospital and other healthcare places like a clinic or a doctor's office is that a hospital will have beds where patients can stay overnight. These patients are called inpatients. The goal of inpatient treatment is to provide 24-7 medical stabilization, which is why this type of treatment has more of a hospital-like feel since patients are monitored by doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers. Treatment is structured and has a schedule that can include individual therapy, group therapy, case management, and support groups.^[2]

Hospitals also treat people who do not stay overnight, called outpatients. Doctors and nurses work at hospitals. Doctors make use of advanced medical technology to heal patients.

Patients who are staying at the hospital will always be under the care of doctors and nurses who are always available for taking care of the injured or sick patients. Hospitals always have the tools and machines needed for treating the patients.

The word hospital originally meant "a place where people can stay". There have been hospitals for sick people since ancient times. They were often created and run by religious groups. In the early modern period, hospitals began to be funded by donations from rich people and by governments. Today, hospitals might get money from the government, from charging patients for treatments and check-ups, from patients' health insurance, from people giving to charity or a mixture of those things.

• Intensive care unit

Media related to Hospitals at Wikimedia Commons