Right Hospitals
Filed Under Right Medical Facility |
The private or community hospital is the most common hospital facility in the United States. These hospitals are usually nonprofit, and contain from 50 to 400 beds. Sometimes they have been financed with funds from doctors practicing in the area. More frequently, nonprofit organizations aided by government funds for hospital construction have financed the facility. The quality of care in these institutions is largely dependent upon the physician in charge of your case. Relatively few physician actions come under serious review. There is not always a physician in the hospital around the clock. Nevertheless, private hospitals usually give personalized care of high quality. The hospital is quiet and orderly. In the great majority of cases facilities are adequate for the care required.
Public hospitals include city, county, public health service, military, and Veterans Administration hospitals. These hospitals are generally large, with from 500 to 1000 beds. They have permanent full-time staff, and physicians are present in the hospital at all times. Usually, they have a “house staff,” with interns and resident physicians available around the clock. As befits their larger size, they offer more services, and frequently have associated rehabilitation units or nursing homes. Activities in the public hospital are more visible, and the efforts of each physician are scrutinized by others. The quality of care you receive depends upon the overall quality of the institution. The presence of interns and residents may pose some minor inconveniences to you as a patient, however, their presence is an excellent guarantee of good care. The physician-in-training has patient care as his or her primary responsibility, and is not greatly involved with office practice and administrative tasks.
Many public hospitals have the reputation for providing service to E poorer economic class. Within the community, they are often perceived as offering substandard service. Usually, these accusations are grossly unfair While not always quiet and orderly, and often not physically attractive these hospitals give dependable and excellent care. When available, they should be seriously considered by individuals in all economic classes. The teaching hospital is one associated with a medical school. Teachin~ hospitals are large, with a range of from 300 to 2000 beds. These hospitals always have interns and residents and additionally have medical students on the hospital wards. They have superb technical resources, and it is here that the most extraordinary events of medicine take place. Open-hearsurgery, transplantation of kidneys, elaborate nurseries for the newborn, support for management of rare blood diseases, and other marvels are all available here. Dozens of people may be concerned with the wellbeing of a particular patient. Crucial medical decisions are thoroughly discussed, presented at conferences, and reviewed by many personnel. On the other hand, the quality of personal relationships at teaching hospitals is variable. Many patients feel that they are treated in an impersonal way, and that their laboratory tests receive more attention than their human and social problems. Since these institutions are on the frontier of medicine, there is a tendency to emphasize the new and elaborate procedures, when older and more modest ones might have served as well. With the inexperience of some members of the care team, there is a tendency to order more laboratory tests than would have been ordered for the same condition in a private hospital. The sick patient is sometimes confused by having to relate to a large number of doctors and students. Medical educators are concerned with such criticisms, and have moved to correct some of the problems. However, some excesses of technological medicine still occur in these institutions.