The hospital as a :__________

Each patient enters a hospital for his own reason.  For one it may be:

To die.  At one time this may have been the main function of hospitals.  Now we have alternatives like hospice;  Many people would prefer to die in more familiar settings surrounded by family and loved ones.  

To be operated on.  The hospital provides a controlled environment where surgical operations can be performed with the same precision and sterile field time and again.

To heal.  Hospital staff and volunteers feel their jobs are special because the healing process gives instant gratification.  They make a difference in someone's life.

To recover.  Recovery is accelerated to a large degree because of focused attention on the problems at hand.  Deviation from the healing process can be spotted and actions taken to counter them.

To learn.  One thinks of teaching hospitals, of course, but in a sense all the hospital patients are also students.  They learn from the procedures and processes practiced on them.

To be stabilized.  When a person's health is swinging wildly from good to bad or horrible to fine, it is difficult to treat with medicine, surgery, or alternative methods.  By the time the desired reaction may be expected, the patient may be off to another crisis.

To be born.  We mustn't forget that happiest of all the sections of a hospital, the maternity ward.  It isn't necessary to be born in a hospital but we hope there are reasons to chose that launching pad.


When I entered the hospital I felt like it was to die.  I knew it wasn't to be born.  Little did I realize just how many aspects of the hospital I would discover during my stay.