Hospitals

Today, hospitals are usually funded by the state, by health organizations, (for profit or non-profit), or charities, including by direct charitable donations. 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. During the Middle Ages the hospital could serve other functions, such as almshouse ['à: mzhaus] (богадельня) for the poor, hostel for pilgrims, or hospital school.

Some patients in a hospital come just for diagnosis and/or therapy and then leave ('outpatients'); while others are 'admitted' and stay overnight or for several weeks or months ('inpatients'). Hospitals are usually distinguished from other types of medical facilities by their ability to admit and care for inpatients.

The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which is set up to deal with many kinds of diseases and injuries, and typically has an emergency department to deal with immediate threats to health and the capacity to dispatch (быстро выполнять) emergency medical services. 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 and so forth. Larger cities may have many different hospitals of varying sizes and facilities.

Types of specialized hospitals include trauma centers, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric problems, certain disease categories, and so forth.

A hospital may be a single building or a campus. (Many hospitals with pre-20th-century origins began as one building and evolved into campuses. ) Some hospitals are affiliated (присоединять) with universities for medical research and the training of medical personnel. Worldwide, most hospitals are run on a non-profit basis by governments or charities.

While hospitals, by concentrating equipment, skilled staff and other resources in one place, clearly provide important help to patients with serious or rare health problems, hospitals are also criticised for a number of faults (недостаток). One criticism often voiced is the 'industrialised' nature of care, with constantly shifting treatment staff (штат врачей), which dehumanises the patient and prevents more effective care as doctors and nurses are rarely intimately familiar with the patient. Another criticism is that hospitals are in themselves a dangerous place for patients, who are often suffering from weakened immune systems - either due to their body having to undergo substantial surgery or because of the illness which placed them in the hospital itself. As an example, it is estimated that as much as 10% of all patients in the United States contract a nosocomial (hospital-caused) infection.

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