What is a hospital?
Hospital is defined as an institution built, equipped, and staffed for diagnosis and treatment of disease. This includes treatment of both the sick and injured and if required, their housing during the entire process. Some of the modern hospitals also provide teaching, investigation and learning facilities for the healthcare professionals, and serve as learning centers.
To serve the wide-ranging needs of modern-day society, most of the hospitals provide outpatient facilities, combined with emergency, rehabilitation, and psychiatric services- all under one roof.
Types of hospitals
With the advancements in healthcare system, patients are now provided with a variety of options in terms of receiving care from the care providers. This includes the selecting the type of healthcare facility they want to utilize, from a list of options available. The different types of hospitals include:
Academic Medical Centers– these are generally serving medical schools or universities. They offer variety of services for general healthcare needs of the community, while providing learning opportunities to the healthcare students.
Acute Hospitals– providing treatment and care to people with short term medical needs, including injuries, illness, diseases, surgeries, obstetric care, surgery recovery and postnatal care. They cannot handle long term patients.
Children’s Hospital– these are specialized in providing care and treatment for conditions that affect children and younger patients. The healthcare staff in children’s hospital is trained to provide psychological support to the patients and families, while treating variety of long term and acute medical needs.
Clinics– these are much smaller hospitals, and treat only outpatients, with no facilities to keep patients overnight.
For-Profit Hospitals– these are owned by investors, and the stakeholders benefit from the profits made by services provided to the patients
Free Hospitals– they do not charge the patients and are usually reached by patients of poor socio-economic class.
Community Hospitals– serving local communities, these are usually found in the urban or rural settings and provide service to the local population.
If you are looking for best hospital in Bahrain, contact Al Hilal Hospital today. With several departments and specialized doctors, we can cater to all your health needs, under one roof.
How to differentiate hospitals?
Hospitals can be differentiated based on:
Functionality– this refers to the types of services provided by the hospital. It can be general purpose hospital, a research hospital, or a trauma center for patients.
Size– hospitals are generally classified according to the number of beds. A hospital with less than 100 beds is small, while the one with more than 500 beds is considered large.
Locations– hospitals located in rural areas and small communities usually lack specialized facilities, while the ones in larger metropolitan areas tend to have wide degree of equipment and treatment options.
Ownership– private hospitals usually have more funds and hence better technology, while the government owned hospitals might have several limitations in this regard.
Specialization– these hospitals have specialized doctors and equipment to treat patients only with specific conditions.
Services provided by hospital
While different types of hospital provide different types of services to the patients, here are some of the most common services usually offered by hospitals:
Ward facilities– this is the major aspect that differentiates a hospital from a clinic or care center. Ward facilities allow hospitals to provide both the inpatient and outpatient care.
Nursing– nurses serve as a connecting bridge between the patients and the doctors, by making sure all the health-related instructions given by doctors are implemented. They oversee the overall wellbeing of patients.
Outpatient Department (OPD)– it has several skilled doctors and technicians, to help patients in preliminary diagnosis and treatment options related to it.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU)– equipped with modern technical apparatus and skilled professionals, ICU provides facilities to patients suffering from adverse health conditions. ICUs are also of different types, depending upon the type of hospital and services provided by it.
Benefits of Hospitals
While most of us would not appreciate the value of hospitals until we fall ill, hospitals are in fact one of the most essential institutions in a society. Several lives are saved by hospital each day, and they also provide extraordinary services to the patients dealing with serious illness, like brain diseases, cancer, and major injuries. Usually, hospitals also tend to educate and inform the patients regarding diseases, precautionary measures, and treatment options, aiming to improve the overall health situation in any area. Some of them provide learning opportunities to the healthcare students, hence ensuing better future for the overall society.
Hospitals have a huge impact on the community, making sure that it stays strong, healthy, and vibrant. Several hospitals offer free/ discounted treatment options for the patients who are unable to afford normal fee, providing service to the community, and humanity in general.
Al Hilal Hospital, Bahrain
Al Hilal Hospital aims at providing quality healthcare services to all the patients, at an affordable price. We have inpatient and outpatient facilities, with multiple across Bahrain, and upcoming branches as well. At Al Hilal Hospital, we have highly qualified and experienced specialist and general doctors, state-of-the-art apparatus, laboratories with modern equipment and professional staff, to provide optimum quality healthcare services to all the patients. With branches in all the major areas, Al Hilal Hospital is easily reachable, we have affordable packages for various categories and all our doctors have proven record of accurate diagnosis and treatment in their respective fields.
If you are looking for best hospital in Bahrain/ hospital near me, contact us today, and get consultation with the experts in the field.
