A hospital is a healthcare facility that provides round-the-clock medical care and treatment. It aims to diagnose disease or injury and provide appropriate medicine, therapy, and surgery for patients. It also helps in research, teaching and training.
It may be a general hospital that focuses on one or more specific categories of medical practice (such as cardiology), or a specialty hospital, which concentrates on a particular field of disease or injury, such as cancer. Other special hospitals include psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals.
Modern hospitals are large and complex institutions that are increasingly concerned with efficiency and patient-centered care. In developed countries, the majority of the population receives their healthcare in a hospital. These facilities are essential for the treatment of complicated diseases and injuries, as well as birth and child care.
Hospitals are generally staffed by physicians and nurses and are equipped with state-of-the-art medical and diagnostic equipment. A hospital’s ancillary services may include pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, and pathology departments. Hospitals that focus on patient education and research may be called academic medical centers.
Patients experience a range of feelings throughout hospitalization as a result of the interplay between the hospital environment and their personal patient factors. These feelings can include anxiety, appreciation, boredom, feeling bothersome, level of control, irritation, trust and uninformed/confused. However, assessing patient satisfaction is challenging given that the current system of quality reporting relies on closed-ended questions that do not allow for a full range of responses.