Health facility

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hartford Hospital in Hartford, Connecticut. A hospital is one common type of health facility.
An eye, ear, nose, and throat clinic in Durham, North Carolina, illustrating a common smaller facility.

A health facility is, in general, any location where

non-profit organizations, governments, and, in some cases, individuals, with proportions varying by country. See also the recent review paper,[1]

Health facility workload

The workload of a health facility is often used to indicate its size. Large health facilities are those with a greater patient load.

In Australia the workload of a health facility is used to determine the level of government funding provided to that facility. The government measures a facility (or health practice) in terms of its standard whole patient equivalent (SWPE). The SWPE calculation is determined by analysis of the patients that attend that facility. The calculation takes into account the proportion of health services (in dollars) rendered at that facility relative to others that each patient attends. It includes a weighting factor based on each patients' demography to account for the varied levels of services required by patients depending on their gender and age.[2] The premise of weighting is that patients require different levels of health services depending on their age and gender. For example, the average male patient requires fewer consultations than his older and infant counterparts. The table shows the weighting factors used in the standardization of workloads.

Table: Age by Sex Weights for SWPE Standardisation

Age (years) Male Female
less than 1 0.960 0.962
1-4 1.189 1.112
less than 10 0.688 0.699
15-24 0.633 0.938
25-44 0.729 1.012
45-64 0.963 1.199
65-74 1.355 1.623
75+ 1.808 2.183

Types of health facility

Hospital

Main article: Hospital

A hospital is an institution for

non-profit), by health insurances or by charities
and by donations. Historically, however, they were often founded and funded by religious orders or charitable individuals and leaders. Hospitals are nowadays staffed by professionally trained doctors, nurses, paramedical clinicians, etc., whereas historically, this work was usually done by the founding religious orders or by volunteers.

Healthcare center

See also: Primary care

Healthcare centres, including

ambulatory surgery centers, serve as first point of contact with a health professional and provide outpatient medical, nursing, dental, and other types of care services.[3]

Medical Nursing Homes

Medical nursing homes, including residential treatment centers and geriatric care facilities, are health care institutions which have accommodation facilities and which engage in providing short-term or long-term medical treatment of a general or specialized nature not performed by hospitals to inpatients with any of a wide variety of medical conditions.[4]

Pharmacies and drug stores

Main article: Pharmacy

Pharmacies and drug stores comprise establishments engaged in retailing prescription or nonprescription drugs and medicines, and other types of medical and orthopaedic goods.[4] Regulated pharmacies may be based in a hospital or clinic or they may be privately operated, and are usually staffed by pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy aides.

Medical laboratory and research

Main articles:
Biomedical research

A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a

clinical biochemistry, immunology, serology, histology, cytology, cytogenetics, or virology. In many countries, there are two main types of labs that process the majority of medical specimens. Hospital laboratories are attached to a hospital, and perform tests on these patients. Private or community laboratories receive samples from general practitioners
, insurance companies, and other health clinics for analysis.

A biomedical research facility is where

preclinical research
if its goal is specifically to elaborate knowledge for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

See also

References

  1. doi:10.1016/j.cor.2016.05.018
    .
  2. ^ AUSTRALIAN MEDICAL WORKFORCE BENCHMARKS (PDF). Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee (Report). Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. January 1996. p. 25. Archived from the original on August 6, 2010.{{cite report}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "Definition of Terms" (PDF). World Health Organization. Manila. 2010. Archived from the original on December 9, 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ a b "International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities Rev.3.1". United Nations Statistics Division.
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