Hospital Abbreviations

From the Latin hospitālis (“ guest house ”), a hospital is an establishment for the diagnosis and treatment of patients, where research and teaching are also carried out. The term is also used figuratively to allude to any house where there are many sick people.

The concept of hospital has its origins in the word hospes (“guest” or “visit”) from which hospitalitas (“hospitality”) results. Over time , the notion came to refer to the quality of welcoming/hosting someone well and with satisfaction.

In the past, a hospital was a place where charity was exercised to poor, sick, orphans, elderly people and pilgrims, welcomed by monks and nuns.

In a hospital, the patient (as the person receiving treatment in that place is called) has access to different treatments and the diagnosis of different types of diseases can be of various types, such as laboratory, clinical, kinesiological-functional.

The term “hospital” was used in the 16th century under the influence of the 12th century French term “hôpital”, both derived from Latin. The emergence of hospitals, a little different from what we have today, took place in the Middle Ages.

In the 7th century, the term “Hotel-Dieu” was used in the set of French institutions that carried the notion of lodging and had a religious character, thus giving rise to this type of institution on the European continent. As far as we have information, the first “Hotel-Dieu” was founded in the years 651 or 829 in Paris, the date is uncertain. However, there is still information about the existence of what could be considered a hospital in what is now known as Sri Lanka (formerly “Ceylon”, in 431 BC, in South Asia.

The structure of the hospitals was designed to fulfill the functions of prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. However, many modern hospitals are governed by a modality known as progressive care, in which there are no rooms divided by medical specialties, but where treatments are provided progressively to the patient according to severity and complexity.

Within a hospital, there is the care system (for the direct care of the patient by professionals from the medical team), the administrative and accounting system (concerning the admission of patients, the respective discharges and discharges of clinics, the organization of shifts and audits, among other tasks), the management system (which organizes or directs the overall operation of the hospital), etc.

Professionals from various areas work in hospitals, among which we can mention cleaning professionals, directors, administrative, reception and, of course, health professionals, among them: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, among others.

It should be noted that hospitals can be general, psychiatric, geriatric and maternal-infant (maternity hospitals), among other specialties. There are even hospital ships, designed to serve as medical treatment facilities. In Portugal, the current Youth Hostel Gil Eanes (Viana do Castelo) was, for many years, a hospital ship for Portuguese fishermen who went to the seas of Greenland in search of cod. Despite not being on land , they enjoyed medical care whenever justified.

The first hospital founded in Brazil was called Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Olinda, which was inaugurated in 1540 together with the Church of Nossa Senhora da Luz . This hospital operated until the year 1630, when it was looted by the Dutch and then burned down.

List of Acronyms Related to Hospital