Hospital is a healthcare facility that provides round-the-clock care and lifesaving medical services to the patients. They are staffed by highly-skilled doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who work together to treat various ailments and illnesses while promoting medical research, and adjusting to the ever-changing needs of the communities they serve.
Some hospitals are bedless and offer strictly ambulatory care and outpatient procedures; while others admit patients to stay overnight or for extended periods of time to receive treatment and constant observation (inpatients). There are many types of hospitals, including general community hospitals, teaching hospitals with medical residency programs, federal hospitals for military veterans, mental health hospitals, long-term rehabilitative hospitals, and specialty hospitals like heart centers.
In times of public health emergencies and disasters, hospitals are crucial anchors that provide essential resources, medical attention, and support services to impacted communities. Their tenacity and dedication to public health demonstrate how essential they are for the well-being of people and their communities.
Aside from providing emergency healthcare services, hospitals of all kinds throughout the world contribute to their communities in myriad ways without laws or regulations that require them to do so. However, the many ways they do so elude clear measurement of how much they contribute or whether it can be tied to a change in community health status. In addition, there is debate on the question of whether hospitals must do more for their community as a moral obligation or because it is in their best financial interest to do so.
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