Hospital As a System

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A system is a set of interacting or interdependent units and sub-units forming an integrated whole with a clear-cut objective at each level working towards achieving the main objective of the system through the authority and coordination.

Human being is an unified system of various systems like, digestive, Circulatory, respiratory and excretory and so on controlled and coordinated by the Central Nervous system the ‘Brain’

Similarly Plants or any living body has a system for its functions and survival.

Leaving aside the living beings, the nonliving objects also functions as a system like, a machine, an organisation or an institution so as to fulfill their objectives.

A system may be open or closed.An open system is one which has to depend to some extent with outside environment to full fill the objective.A closed system is one which functions from within to full fill its objective not requiring much help from outside.

In the similar way Hospital also functions as a system to achieve its objective.More will be known from the simplified power point presentation to come in my next blog.

Hope it will help you to understand ‘Hospital as a System’.

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How Hospitals came into Existence? :: Hospiad

History of Hospital Development

Literature suggest that the church at Les Invalides in France showing the often close connection between historical hospitals and churches. Ancient cultures, religion and medicine were linked. The various methods of cure starts from faith in Gods and begins from churches, temples and idghas. 

Institutions created specifically to care for the ill also appeared early in India. The earliest surviving encyclopedia of medicine in Sanskrit is the Charakasamhita (Compendium of Charaka). 

There are also evidence of Hospital care at the time of King Ashok. Early hospitals in India were built by Ashok (273-232B.C) During that time even, the importance of nutritive value of fresh fruit & vegetables were known. Gentle care, personal hygiene and herbal medicines were given to the sick.The Allopathic system of medicine   was introduced in India in 16th century. 

A modern hospital has become highly scientific and complex institution over the years particularly in last three decades. This is due to introduction of diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.

The history of development of hospitals is quite vast and described by many. If you interested to know more then follow this link to  Wikipedia

How the term "Hospital" originated?

Dear Readers,

We are discussing about careers in Hospital Administration and various aspects related to it. Now before understanding Hospital Administration let us try to know how hospitals came into existance , who came up with this beautiful idea of creating hospitals for nurturing sick and suffering people of the society? Today let us know from where the very term of "Hospital" came?

Literatures shows that the name has originated from the Latin word ‘HOSPES’ The word hospes means “A Host or the Guest” and its other meaning is hotels. That means a place where people get food shelter and rest.
 

From this word “HOSPES “ two words were derived

i) Hospitalia

ii) Hospitum

The word hospitalia was originated from the word hospit( Noun is hospitale and adjective hospitalia) derived from hospes which , further meaning ‘a guest’.The word hospitum was also originated from the word ‘hospes’ which means an apartment for guests showing ‘hospitality’.

If we keep these words in sequence as:

Hospes            Hospitalia               Hospitum

Host                 A guest                  Hospitality 

Therefore, Hospital is a host showing hospitality to a guest; the patient.

In 15th century the word hospital was used in England to the place where the elderly, infirm people are kept. Only in 16th century the hospital got its name as an institution where sick and injured were given medical and surgical treatment.

Choose your Aspiration Type and Level

Health administration today is the most challenging job. In this dynamic and ever growing field there are various scopes and opportunities, specially for doctors, such as health management, healthcare management, health systems management, health care systems management and medical and health services management. What is needed is the leadership, motivation and management skills to tap various resources from the diverse field of knowledge and utilize them in your carrier.

The question is how these changes can be faced, appreciated and accepted to use successfully in ones organisational interest. What is needed today is the principle of ‘Changed Management’

The field of healthcare is very vast. It stretches from the lowest level of a village Sub-Centre to a tertiary level hospital vertically and from Government Sector to voluntary, private and individual practitioner horizontally.

One has to think at which level he wants to work and make the change. But prior to that one should start from level zero to acquire necessary techniques by broadening his knowledge in the field of hospital administration and management to deal successfully with the changing situation, more specifically as per the need and desire of the community.

My endeavor in this regard is to assist you to bridge the gap between your present level and climbing up to the level of a trained hospital administrator.

Career as a Hospital Administrator :: HOSPIAD

Hospitals and the medical staff play a very vital role in our society. Each staff of a hospital contributes towards the well-being of individuals in the society. Doctors, nurses, technician, ward boy, attendant, cleaning staff, administrative person everyone has an unique role to play for smooth functioning of a hospital. This requires a strong administrative setup. As a result "Hospital Administrator” came into the picture. The Hospital Administrator, like doctor, nurse or any other staff of the hospital, plays a huge role in saving people’s lives, but the administrator does not need a scalpel!

Hospital Administrator help their medical staffs, have a hand in local publicity, technical and usually has a broad knowledge about health care business, policy and law and management of hospital staff, finance, material resources and services.

Therefore, a career as a Hospital Administrator is exciting, fulfilling and demanding. Many young and energetic doctors and nurses are joining various courses relating to hospital and health administration, like PGDHHM, DNB (Hospital Administration), MBA. CHA and MHA to join the stream of trained hospital administrators.

I with my 20 years of experience as a Hospital Administrator have retired as Additional Medical Superintendent from Dr. Ram Monohar Lohia Hospital, Delhi in year 2010. I have been teaching the PGDHHM (IGNOU) and DNB students of Hospital Administration and even after retirement I am continuing teaching students at the hospital as a guest faculty.

Apart from this I thought of extending my experience and knowledge to many younger aspirants interested in a career in Hospital Admistration. This very idea motivated me to create this blog. What can be a better medium to share my experiences to a broader audience than creating a blog? This generation is utilising the technological advances which are easy and quick way of learning. I am also in favour of this and thought of utilising this technology for the betterment of society and self-contentment. This will help me understand and address the plight of a student in a much better way.

So, readers keep following the blog. Hope I can add something to your existing knowledge. I also welcome suggestions from my readers.

Regards

Dr. N C Das

Ex. Additional MS and

Guest Faculty

Dr.RML Hospital