Hospitals have always been a big part of communities around the world. The constant changes in environment, society, and people’s beliefes have led to different roles of hospitals. Although this is a very broad topic, this paper aims to briefly discuss the role of hospitals in the past, present, and future time.
In ancient cultures, hospitals were not healthcare institutes as we know them today. The earliest documented institutes provided cure to sick people in temples. Sick people would go to house of worships to get cure for their disease. Furthermore, religious leaders also acted as healthcare providers (Wolper, 2010). As time progressed, hospital became a separate institute, but they were still controlled by religious leaders. These hospitals were viewed as a place for severely ill, house of poor, and place for pilgrims (Wolper, 2010). As structure of hospital started to develop further, in the medieval Islamic world, hospitals became a place were ill people were welcomed and cared for with qualified staff. During the modern era as science started to develop and scientist became more familiar with the human anatomy and physiology, modern hospitals started to appear in Europe. These hospitals were staffed with physicians and surgeons and served only people with medical needs (Wolper, 2010).
Moving forward, current hospitals are technological advanced buildings that are staffed with well educated nurses, physicians, and surgeons. Although there are many hospitals that are still supported by churches and other religious groups, most hospitals are owned by government and are even privately owned. Communities around the world especially here in the U.S. view hospitals as healthcare institutes that provide emergency care or treatment to patients with acute or chronic health issues. Altough most societies do not consider hospitals to be community health centers or a