The hospital is a very essential part of our existence. Any society without a functional hospital with up-to-date equipment would be termed as being primitive. Hospital is one of the greatest discoveries of man. Through it, countless lives that would have lost untimely have been saved. There is no wonder that the World Health Organization (WHO) defined a hospital as “an integral part of social medical organization, the function of which is to provide complete health care for the population both, curative and preventive and who reach out to the family and its home environment. The hospital is also a center of training of health workers and for bio-social research.”
The same organization also defined a hospital as “a residential establishment which provides short term and long term medical care consisting of observational, diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative services for persons suffering or suspected to be suffering from a disease or injury and for parturient. It may or may not also provide services for in patient or an outpatient basis.” Looking at the two definitions, they encompass every aspect of a hospital. The definitions bother on the functions and structural arrangement of an ideal hospital.
We will forge ahead in this lesson by considering the major components of a hospital. There are different departments in a hospital, each is manned by a qualified consultant who ensures the smooth running of the department. Some of them would be explicated in this segment.
Accident & Emergency (A& E) Unit: This department (sometimes called Casualty) is where you’re likely to be taken if you’ve called an ambulance in an emergency. It’s also where you should come if you’ve had an accident, but can make your own way to hospital. These departments operate 24 hours a day, every day and are staffed and equipped to deal with all emergencies. Patients are assessed and seen in order of need, usually with a separate minor injuries area supported by nurses (Henderson, 2016).
Anaesthetics: Doctors in this department administer anaesthesia for patients for various procedures and surgeries. They provide the following services:
• Acute pain services post-surgery
• Chronic pain services for patients suffering from bone related illnesses like arthritis
• Critical care services for those suffering from trauma
• Obstetrics anaesthesia and analgesia like epidurals during childbirth and anaesthesia for C-sections (Shivan, 2014).
Critical Care: Sometimes called intensive care, this unit is for the most seriously ill patients. It has a relatively small number of beds and is manned by specialist doctors and nurses, as well as by consultant anaesthetists, physiotherapists and dietitians. Patients requiring intensive care are often transferred from other hospitals or from other departments in the same hospital (Henderson, 2016).
Discharge Lounge: Many hospitals now have discharge lounges to help your final day in hospital go smoothly. Patients who don’t need to stay on the ward are transferred to the lounge on the day of discharge. Staff will inform the pharmacy, transport and relatives of your transfer. To help pass the time, there are usually facilities such as a TV, radio, magazines, puzzles, books and newspapers. If someone feels unwell while waiting, nurses contact a doctor to come and see you before discharge (Henderson, 2016).
Orthopedics: This department deals with problems that affect the musculoskeletal system.
That includes treating bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and nerves.
Services include bone setting, surgeries to repair damaged bones or ligaments or tendons, replacing bones like hip replacement, knee cap replacement.
Other outpatient services also include treating fractures and dislocated joints, musculoskeletal injuries and soft tissue injuries (Shivan, 2014).
Neurology: Neurology deals with the human nervous system. The doctors in this department investigate and treat patients for problems that affect their brain and spinal cord. Surgical procedures on the brain and spinal cord are extremely dangerous and require highly qualified and experienced doctors and nurses to provide such special care. Neurologists examine patients who have been referred to them by other physicians in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. A neurologist will begin their interaction with a patient by taking a comprehensive medical history, and then perform a physical examination focusing on evaluating the nervous system. Components of the neurological examination include assessment of the patient’s cognitive function, cranial nerves, motor strength, sensation, reflexes, coordination, and gait (Shivan, 2014).
Oncology: This department investigates and treats all kinds of cancers and provides a wide range of chemotherapy treatments and radiotherapy for cancerous tumors and blood disorders. This department is usually linked to all the other departments as referrals can be made when one department cannot diagnose the patient’s problem. This department also requires highly qualified and experienced doctors and nurses. Doctors also carry out tumor removal procedures which are then sent for biopsy to confirm whether the tumor is malignant or not (Shivan, 2014).
Maternity Units: Women now have a choice of who leads their maternity care and where they give birth. Care can be led by a consultant, a GP or a midwife. Maternity wards provide antenatal care, care during childbirth and postnatal support. Antenatal clinics provide monitoring for both routine and complicated pregnancies (Henderson, 2016).
Neonatal Department: Neonatal units have a number of cots that are used for intensive, high-dependency and special care for newborn babies. It always maintains close links with the hospital maternity department, in the interest of babies and their families. Neonatal units have the philosophy that, whenever possible, mother and baby should be together (Henderson, 2016).
Haematology: This department can be part and parcel of the hospital laboratory or work closely with the hospital laboratory.
Haematology: includes the study of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention of blood diseases that affect the production of blood and its components, such as blood cells, hemoglobin, blood proteins, and the mechanism of coagulation. The laboratory work that goes into the study of blood is frequently performed by a medical technologist. Haematologists also conduct studies in oncology—the medical treatment of cancer (Shivan, 2014).
This list is by no way exhaustive but we are limited to by space; we would have explored further. However, the major components have been discussed.
References
Henderson, R (2015). A To Z Of Professionals. Retrieved from https://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health-services/nhs/a4503/a-to-z-of-professionals/
Henderson, R (2016). A To Z Of Hospital Departments. Retrieved from https://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health-services/nhs/a4502/a-to-z-of-hospital-departments/
Shivan, R (2014). Different Departments Required In A Hospital. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/rheashivan/different-departments-required-in-a-hospital