Hospital
[5] Hospes is thus the root for the English words host (where the p was dropped for convenience of pronunciation) hospitality, hospice, hostel, and hotel.
Hospitals are usually distinguished from other types of medical facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients whilst the others, which are smaller, are often described as clinics.
[12] Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust started a COVID Oximetry@Home service in April 2020.
The technology allows nurses, carers, or patients to record and monitor vital signs such as blood oxygen levels.
[14] According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty, written in the sixth century AD, King Pandukabhaya of Sri Lanka (r. 437–367 BC) had lying-in-homes and hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala).
[15] A hospital and medical training center also existed at Gundeshapur, a major city in southwest of the Sassanid Persian Empire founded in AD 271 by Shapur I.
[16] In ancient Greece, temples dedicated to the healer-god Asclepius, known as Asclepeion functioned as centers of medical advice, prognosis, and healing.
The declaration of Christianity as an accepted religion in the Roman Empire drove an expansion of the provision of care.
[25] The Islamic bimaristan served as a center of medical treatment, as well nursing home and lunatic asylum.
[30] In China, during the Song dynasty, the state began to take on social welfare functions previously provided by Buddhist monasteries and instituted public hospitals, hospices and dispensaries.
[39] They also changed from being mere homes of refuge to being complex institutions for the provision and advancement of medicine and care for sick.
The Apothecaries Act 1815 made it compulsory for medical students to practise for at least half a year at a hospital as part of their training.
[46] Florence Nightingale pioneered the modern profession of nursing during the Crimean War when she set an example of compassion, commitment to patient care and diligent and thoughtful hospital administration.
She also emphasised the importance of statistical measurement for determining the success rate of a given intervention and pushed for administrative reform at hospitals.
Furthermore, the first dermatology, eye, as well as ear, nose, and throat clinics in the world were founded in Vienna, being considered as the birth of specialised medicine.
[53] Among the reasons for this are the increasing availability of more complex care elsewhere such as at home or the physicians' offices and also the less therapeutic and more life-threatening image of the hospitals in the eyes of the public.
[55] In 2013, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced a "two-midnight" rule for inpatient admissions,[56] intended to reduce an increasing number of long-term "observation" stays being used for reimbursement.
[58] Similarly, freestanding emergency rooms, which transfer patients that require inpatient care to hospitals, were popularised in the 1970s[59] and have since expanded rapidly across the United States.
[63] In the United States, hospitals typically operate privately and in some cases on a for-profit basis, such as HCA Healthcare.
[66] Privately funded hospitals which admit uninsured patients in emergency situations incur direct financial losses, such as in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
[68] Modern hospital buildings are designed to minimise the effort of medical personnel and the possibility of contamination while maximising the efficiency of the whole system.
The building also should be built to accommodate heavy departments such as radiology and operating rooms while space for special wiring, plumbing, and waste disposal must be allowed for in the design.
[69] However, many hospitals, even those considered "modern", are the product of continual and often badly managed growth over decades or even centuries, with utilitarian new sections added on as needs and finances dictate.
As a result, Dutch architectural historian Cor Wagenaar has called many hospitals: "... built catastrophes, anonymous institutional complexes run by vast bureaucracies, and totally unfit for the purpose they have been designed for ...
"[70]Some newer hospitals now try to re-establish design that takes the patient's psychological needs into account, such as providing more fresh air, better views and more pleasant colour schemes.
These ideas harken back to the late eighteenth century, when the concept of providing fresh air and access to the 'healing powers of nature' were first employed by hospital architects in improving their buildings.
[70] The research of British Medical Association is showing that good hospital design can reduce patient's recovery time.
Exposure to nature and hospital gardens is also important – looking out windows improves patients' moods and reduces blood pressure and stress level.
Open windows in patient rooms have also demonstrated some evidence of beneficial outcomes by improving airflow and increased microbial diversity.
The ward-based system has been described as very efficient, especially for the medical staff, but is considered to be more stressful for patients and detrimental to their privacy.
