A hospital is a place
that provides care for the sick and injured, It offers a wide variety
of medical services for its patients. The hospital also serves as a
centre for health related research within the community.
The discovery of
anesthetics made modern surgery possible. The realization of the
necessity for antiseptic halted the spread of disease and infection
within hospital walls.
By the end of 19th
century the hospital had assumed its
modern structure and was beginning to the central axis around which
all other health-care systems were organized.
Hospitals
are classified by the kinds of services they offer. General hospitals
are equipped to treat a variety of common diseases and injuries.
Special hospitals are established to treat specific maladies or
specific groups of patients. Hospital are also classified according
to the entity controlling them: a church, a corporation or a medical
school.
Advances in
each aspect of health care have led to the creation of professional
specialities. The specialities have become more important to the
efficient care for the sick.
Nutrition,
for example was recognized as a contributing factor in the cause and
cure of illness. Hospital dietitians now plan meals based on their
knowledge of the special dietary requirements for patient suffering
every type of illness.
As
alcoholism has come to be perceived as a sickness, special units have
been added to hospital services. The units treat both the physical
and psychological aspects of the disease. The treatment of drug
addiction is also a hospital function.
Improved
medical techniques have enabled physicians to save the lives of an
increasing number of accident victims by special surgical procedures.