Scribd
Upload
46 views26 pages

Hospitals - Roles and Functions

Hospitals serve several important roles and functions in healthcare systems. They provide medical care to both inpatients and outpatients through services like emergency care, elective procedures, and rehabilitation efforts. Hospitals also focus on disease prevention through health promotion, early diagnosis, and primary/secondary prevention. Additionally, hospitals are centers for education, research, and supporting broader healthcare systems. As major employers, they have a significant social and economic impact on local communities as well.

Uploaded by

Amit Patil
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
46 views26 pages

Hospitals - Roles and Functions

Hospitals serve several important roles and functions in healthcare systems. They provide medical care to both inpatients and outpatients through services like emergency care, elective procedures, and rehabilitation efforts. Hospitals also focus on disease prevention through health promotion, early diagnosis, and primary/secondary prevention. Additionally, hospitals are centers for education, research, and supporting broader healthcare systems. As major employers, they have a significant social and economic impact on local communities as well.

Uploaded by

Amit Patil
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 26

Hospitals – Roles and Functions

Dr Amit M Patil
Mr. Deepak Pedhurkar
DHA 2010
Introduction –
 Hospitals are an important component of health care
system.
 Their importance within the health care systems can
be due to following reasons
a. They account for substantial proportion of health
care budget.
b. Policies they adopt has a major impact on overall
health care.
c. Technological and pharmaceutical developments
along with evidence based management contribute
significantly to population health.
Definition of Hospital –
“ A hospital is an integral part of a social and
medical organization, the function of which is to
provide for the population complete health
care, both curative and preventive, and whose
outpatient services reach out to the family and
its home environment”.
…WHO
Types of hospitals –
A. Based on bed strength
i. Small – less than 100 beds.
ii. Medium – 100 to 500 beds.
iii. Large – More than 500 beds.
B. Based on services rendered
i. General services
ii. Speciality
iii. Super speciality
C. Based on funding body
i. Government
ii. Municipal
iii. Trust
iv. Specific Community
v. Private
D. Revenue generation
i. Free
ii. Corporate
C. Teaching and non teaching hospitals.
Differences between hospital and production
industry
Features Hospital Industry

Raw material Human Non human

Desired end product Human Non human

Standardization Not possible Always carried out

Activities Variable Well defined

Services Continuous, emergency Specified time

Time schedule Round the clock Specified time

Duty schedule Difficult workload Controlled work load


Differences contd…
Features Hospital Industry

Staff Varied personnel Each section has persons


of similar status

Authority Multiple lines of control Vertical line

Cooperation, coordination Essential Useful

Performance appraisal Difficult to quantify Easy to measure

Conflicts and tensions Frequent Can be controlled

Services of doubtful May continue Can be stopped


benefits
Transformations in Health Care
From To

Health care Sick care

Provider driven Buyer driven

Sacred faith in doctor Distrust

Do what seems best Activities based on payment

Service industry Corporate industry

General routine care Specialized, sophisticated care

Low cost High cost

Highly ethical Highly technological


Components of Hospital
A. Hard ware
 Building
 Furniture
 Equipment
 Materials – Consumable/Non consumable
B. Soft ware –
a. Staff
 Skilled
 Semiskilled
 Unskilled
b. Patients
 Present
 Potential
Functions of a Hospital
A. Medical care of sick
1. Inpatient, out patient and day care
2. Emergency and elective
3. Rehabilitation
B. Prevention of diseases
1. Promotion of health
2. Early diagnosis and treatment
3. Primary and secondary prevention.
C. Education
1. Undergraduate
2. Postgraduate
3. Continuing education
4. Vocational
D. Research
1. Basic research
2. Clinical research
3. Educational
4. Health service research
E. Health system support
1. Source for referrals
2. Professional leadership
3. Base for out reach activities
4. Management of primary care
F. Social functions
1. State legitimacy
2. Political symbol
3. Provider of social care
4. Base for medical power
5. Civic pride
G. Employment
1. Inside hospital
 Health care professionals
 Other health care workers
2. Outside hospital
 Suppliers
 Transport services
 Others
A. Medical care of sick
1. Inpatient, out patient and day care
 Indoor services
 Out patient services
 Day care services
2. Emergency and elective services
 Emergency care
 Emergency care in disaster situations
 Elective care
3. Rehabilitation – defined as
“ the combined and coordinated use of medical,
Social, educational and vocational measures for
training or retraining the individual to the highest
possible level of functional ability”.
 Continuous non ending activity.
 Restoration of function in rehabilitative medicine.
 Involves physical medicine, OT, PT, speech
therapy, education and vocal guidance.
B. Prevention – Prevention of diseases done
by
1. Promotion of health
2. Early diagnosis and treatment
3. Primary prevention
4. Secondary prevention
C. Education
 Important function of the hospital.
 Provides training to the future professional healthcare
providers.
 It provides adequate facilities for teaching and
research to address adverse health problems.
 It imparts effective communication training.
 Care of the patient is more scientific based.
D. Research
 Hospitals promotes research for new knowledge
generation.
 Teaching, research and patient care are
interdependent.
 Teaching hospitals are key components of health
care system as they directly affect the quality of
new graduates and postgraduates.
E. Health system support
 Hospital support to other health care services.
 The relationship of hospital with other health
care services varies.
 Hospital has a central role of delivering all types
of health care facilities.
F. Employment
 Major employer.
 Labour intensive organization.
 3.2% of workforce employed in hospitals.
 Policy makers emphasize more on this role.
 Has huge impact on local socioeconomic
conditions.
G. Social functions
a) State legitimacy –
 State bears the ultimate responsibility of providing good
health care system.
b) Political symbol –
 Acts as a political symbol.
c) Provider of social care
 Hospitals acts as a source of social as well as health
care.
d) Civic pride

You might also like