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Disadvantages Of Acute Care Hospital

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Acute Care Hospitals are designed for short-term in-patient and out-patient needs. Those who are admitted into acute care hospitals generally suffer from medical emergencies, acute illnesses, diseases, or recovering from major surgeries and pregnancies. The goal of acute care hospitals is to discharge patients to lesser care as soon as possible. Sometimes, patients are evaluated and transferred to long-term inpatient facilities such as for a mental health facility or a long-term care facility. The average length of stay in an acute care hospital is 3.8 days (Acute Care Services, 2017). Whereas long-term care is usually for chronic incapacitating illnesses, rehabilitation, or psychiatric care. Most hospitals are acute care (91%). Hospitals have been discovered from as early as 4000 BCE. These hospitals were more of “last resort” facilities; reserved for those dying or who had an infectious disease. They were more focused on caring for the patient instead of trying to heal them. Hospitals were mainly established by religious organizations and were staffed more with monks and nuns than professional doctors. At the end of the Middle Age, hospitals moved away from religious institutions to charity driven facilities. By the 1800’s advancements in technology and science changed hospitals and the staff to more professional doctors and nurses focusing on surgical procedures (Hospitals, 2017). Acute care hospitals are classified as public or private, community or non-community,

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