It seems the tred now is mega hospitals in contrast to the pre 90’s. I have been to many older cities of a population of 600,000 people having 7 hospitals . Well newer cities population of 600,000 people having only two or three hospitals.
I guess one of the main reason is no longer sending you to other hospita for treatment.
But one of the cons I have notices it being very busy and longer wait times. Not the 5 to 10 people in the ER like the traditional hospitals!! But 20 to 30 people wainting in the ER.
The number of hospital buildings hasn’t dropped much, they’ve mainly merged combining multiple hospitals under a single group. It’s what generally happens in successful industries. With hospitals there aren’t a lot of ways to take advantage of the economy of scale, they need as many rooms and beds as before, with only a small decrease in the number of personnel. The real losses are in smaller hospitals outside the major metropolitan areas that can’t afford to maintain the high tech facilities of the larger institutions.
I get the impression that, in the US at least, the number of beds in hospitals is down from decades past even though they’re treating more patients. For example, for a conventional birth, the mother stays in the hospital for less than 24 hours. Many surgeries are done on an outpatient basis. Improvements like endoscopic surgery mean that patients recover more quickly.
Please provide some context for that photo. Where and when is it taken?
Never mind. I found the source. It’s from Wikipedia and the caption says, “SAN DIEGO (Nov. 10, 2009) Medical staff at Naval Medical Center San Diego are nearly outnumbered in their operating room by casualties during a command-wide mass casualty drill. Mass casualties are incidents where emergencies are sudden and high patient volume exceeds the medical center’s everyday capacity. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Chad A. Bascom/Released)”
“Ugly-looking”??? There are a lot of problems with the American medical system, but for hell’s sake - you’re not there to soak up the ambiance. You’re there for life-saving medical treatment.
While there’s not really economy of scale in treatment potentially there’s some ability to be a little more efficient in administration.
Poorly managed hospitals may be more likely to be bought out by better management teams. Even without economies of scale that may produce some efficiency.
May be easier to negotiate the insurance administrative hurdles to get care at the closest place instead of the right place.
Easy for doctors; they can be affiliated with the entire chain in the area.
On the last, I broke my arm in high school. Without cell phones at the time, I left a message for my parents and my friends drove me to the closest hospital with my dad meeting me there after he got the message Guess where the doctor’s practice didn’t have an agreement with so the oncall guy wouldn’t come set it? Guess who went home with a badly broken arm in a temporary cast until it could be set the next day? That night was utterly miserable.
Cons:
Less competition. Not really a price competition but I’ve lived areas where independent hospitals compete on quality of service in certain specialties.
Poor but fiscally successful management can run the whole chain into the ground for short term benefit. Especially if there’s no local competition.
I was talking bout in past building smaller hospitals and now the trend of building vey big hospitals.
exempla an old city of a population of 600,000 having 7 hospitals and now new city of population 600,000 build in 90’s to now having two or three hospitals.
It’s been explained why large hospitals have an advantage. You wouldn’t build a new small hospital because it would eventually be consumed by the others.
And that emergency room looks better than the one’s I was in 50 years ago and 20 years ago.
I don’t think any one likes spending time in the ER but to me any hospital that has ER that looks ugly like that makes me sick to my stomach. This model may streamline doctors and nurses having 4 to 8 doctors working that area but it looks like a assembly line and war zone.
I have had chest pain and breathing problems and have waited to it got really bad before I gone to the hospital :(:mad::(because I hate spending 4 to 8 hours in the ER room with 20 to 30 people wanting to see the doctor. Than spending time ER room looking like http://www.baconsrebellion.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/er.jpg
Yes 10 to 15 of those little open rooms with curtain well the doctors and nurses walk around in and out of those little open rooms.
So it normally goes like this 30 to 60 people in Triage a hour or two hour wait.
Than 4 to 6 hours in ER room like this with 20 to 30 people waiting like this http://medcitynews.com/wp-content/uploads/ER-waiting-room.jpg
Than hour or two in open rooms with curtain like this.
That you get discharge or sent to other area of the hospital.
Other older city 600,000 people having 7 hospitals.The Triage/waiting room all in one room about 5 to 10 people waiting to see the doctor.
Those mega hospitals are design for high volume of people so it looks more like a assembly line. Most of those mega hospitals have cancer treatment and other specialists.
Many of those smaller hospitals lack specialists, cancer treatment and a good trauma unit and send a person to other hospitals that specializes in that area.
It is political move nothing more. Why have 7 hospitals when we can close them down and build two or three mega hospitals and better streamline of doctors and nurses.
I’m not saying it has to look like star trek voyager sickbay has money would have to grow on trees for that :eek::eek:but those hospital ER look very much like they are run on little money and borderline third world countries.
I have some hospital in my area that looks way better than that and some that look bad like that.
You’re having a potential heart attack, and you delay going to hospital because the decor is a bit ordinary? (checks which forum we’re in…)
Dude, you’re quite a silly chap you know.
Oh, and btw, if you present to any hospital in the world with chest pain and breathing problems, you won’t be left sitting in the waiting room. Just sayin’.
sweat209, you answer your own question quite well.
Isn’t a hospital that can offer cancer treatment and other specialists better than a hospital that doesn’t have those and has to send a person to another hospital?
Isn’t it better that two or three mega hospitals can “streamline” (I think you’re using the word to mean “make more efficient”) the work of doctors and nurses?
In a small hospital there may be only one doctor working in the emergency room. If more than one person comes in for treatment, someone will have to wait. And that one doctor on duty may know everything about a broken leg, but may never have treated a heart attack. Why is that better than a large emergency room with many doctors on duty who have experience in different kinds of emergencies?
