Hospital, Hospital

In history, however, hospitals were often founded and funded by religious orders or charitable individuals and leaders. Similarly, modern-day hospitals are largely staffed by professional physicians, surgeons, and nurses, whereas in history, this work was usually done by the founding religious orders or by volunteers.

Hospitals are usually distinguished from other types of medical facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients.

A general hospital is typically the major health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care and long-term care; and specialized facilities for surgery, plastic surgery, childbirth, bioassay laboratories, and so forth. Larger cities may have many different hospitals of varying sizes and facilities.

According to the Mahavamsa, the ancient chronicle of Sinhalese royalty written in the 6th century A.D., King Pandukabhaya (4th century BC) had lying-in-homes and hospitals (Sivikasotthi-Sala) built in various parts of the country. This is the earliest documentary evidence we have of institutions specifically dedicated to the care of the sick anywhere in the world. Prof. Arjuna Aluvihare, "Rohal Kramaya Lovata Dhayadha Kale Sri Lankikayo" Vidhusara Science Magazine , Nov. 1993.

One expert has argued that "to a very large extent, the credit for the whole hospital system must be given to Persia". C. Elgood, A Medical History of Persia , (Cambridge Univ. Press), p. 173.

It somewhat resembled the Persian bimaristan and Byzantine nosocomia , but was more general as it extended its services to lepers, invalid and destitute people. All treatment and care was free of charge and there was more than one physician employed in this hospital. al-Hassani, Woodcock and Saoud (2007), 'Muslim heritage in Our World', FSTC Publishing, pp.154-156.

In this way Muslim physicians distinguished between a hospital and a hospice, assylum, lazaret or leper-house, all of which were more concerned with isolating the sick and the mad (insane) from society than offering them a cure. Some thus consider the medieval Bimaristan hospitals as "the first hospitals" in the modern sense of the word. , in The first free public hospital was opened in Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-Rashid. The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia. As the system developed, physicians and surgeons were appointed who gave lectures to medical students and issued diplomas to those who were considered qualified to practice - an early parallel to modern medical schools.

The hospital employed female nurses, including nurses from Sudan . In addition to regular physicians who attended the sick, there were Fuqaha al-Badan , a kind of religious physio-therapists, group of religious scholars whose medical services included bloodletting, bone setting, and cauterisation. During Ottoman rule, when hospitals reached a particular distinction, Sultan Bayazid II built a psychiatric hospital and medical madrasa in Edirne, and a number of other early hospitals were also built in Turkey. The clerics working in these facilities employed scientific methodology far beyond that of their contemporaries in their treatment of patients.

Fray Nicolas de Ovando, Spanish governor and colonial administrator from 1502-1509, authorized its construction on December 29, 1503. This hospital apparently incorporated a church. The first phase of its construction was completed in 1519, and it was rebuilt in 1552. Alfredo De Micheli, En torno a la evolucin de los hospitales, Gaceta Mdica de Mxico , vol. 141, no. 1 (2005), p. 59.

Other hospitals sprang up in London and other British cities over the century, many paid for by private subscriptions. In the British American colonies the Pennsylvania General Hospital was chartered in Philadelphia in 1751, after 2,000 from private subscription was matched by funds from the Assembly. Roderick E. McGrew, Encyclopedia of Medical History (Macmillan 1985), p.139.

One of the earliest of these "almshouses" in what would become the United States was started by William Penn in Philadelphia in 1713. These hospitals are tax-exempt due to their charitable purpose, but provide only a minimum of charitable medical care. They are supplemented by large public hospitals in major cities and research hospitals often affiliated with a medical school. The largest public hospital system in America is the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, which includes Bellevue Hospital, the oldest U.S. hospital, affiliated with New York University Medical School.

The high working pressures often put on the staff exacerbate such rushed and impersonal treatment. The architecture and setup of modern hospitals is often voiced as a contributing factor to the feelings of faceless treatment many people complain about.

Travel time for personnel within the hospital and the transportation of patients between units is facilitated and minimized. 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.

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. A major constraint on providing all patients with their own rooms is however found in the higher cost of building and operating such a hospital, which causes some hospitals to charge for the privilege of private rooms.

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