A birth center is a healthcare facility for childbirth that focuses on the midwifery model. They aim to create a birth environment that feels more comfortable to the mother and allows for a cost-effective, family-inclusive birth. Birth centers are not typically equipped with the same contingency equipment and staff as a hospital, such as surgeons in case of a C-section or a neonatal intensive care unit. As a result, birth centers accommodate only healthy pregnancies without any known risk or complication factors. These facilities are guided by principles of prevention, sensitivity, safety, cost-effectiveness and appropriate medical intervention when needed.
Blood banks allow donors to donate blood and platelets while also storing and sorting blood into components that can be used most effectively by patients. “Sometimes patients need these particular components specifically, and sometimes they just need lots of blood. For example, a single car accident victim could require as many as 100 pints of blood. Blood is essential for human life, and it can’t be manufactured—only donated. So these facilities work to build the supply for patients who need it.
Many people go to a clinic for routine doctor’s appointments and checkups. These healthcare facilities can be a physician’s private practice, a group practice setting or a corporately owned clinic that may be connected to a larger healthcare system or hospital. Clinics cover a lot of ground in healthcare. For example, you could visit a dental clinic to have a toothache investigated, a physical therapy clinic to recover from an athletic injury or a pediatric speech therapy clinic to help your child overcome an articulation disorder.
Patients with kidney disease often need regular treatments of dialysis. Dialysis is a process that filters and cleans the blood artificially—the work functioning kidneys normally take on. About 14 percent of Americans have chronic kidney disease. When kidneys aren’t able to filter the blood the way they are supposed to, patients might need dialysis as often as three times a week to avoid serious complications. With such high demand, dialysis facilities rose up to meet patient needs and avoid undue strain on hospitals.
Hospice can be a particularly confusing title. It represents a package of insurance benefits that deals with an end-of-life trajectory. It also represents a philosophy of care provision for dying patients as well as official networks that offer hospice care. Hospice is also a designation for specific healthcare facilities that specialize in end-of-life care. Hospice care is a model that provides not only medical support, but also emotional and even spiritual support for patients and their families. Though patients can receive hospice care at home, if their medical needs are significant, they might live in a nursing home with hospice care, or a specified hospice home.
Hospitals are the ultimate “catch-all” healthcare facility. Their services can vary greatly depending on their size and location, but a hospital’s goal is to save lives. Hospitals typically have a wide range of units that can be loosely broken into intensive care and non-intensive care units. Intensive care units deal with emergencies and the most serious illnesses and injuries. Patients with imminently life-threatening problems go here. Non-intensive care units include things like childbirth, surgeries, rehabilitation, step-down units for patients who have just been treated in intensive care and many others. Typically, most hospital beds could be classified as non-intensive care.
This type of healthcare facility is a grouping for many different types of facilities. Mental health treatment facilities sometimes exist as a general institution for any mental health issue and are sometimes specialized. Examples of these kinds of facilities are suicidal thoughts (or suicidal ideation) treatment, depression treatment, trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment, treatment for anxiety disorders, behavioral disorders and more. Addiction treatment centers typically deal with drug and alcohol addictions, as well as problematic behavioral addictions like gambling, work, shopping or the internet.
Nursing homes offer a living situation for patients whose medical needs aren’t severe enough for hospitalization, but are too serious to manage at home. Some nursing homes offer services for heavier medical needs, such as speech and occupational therapy. Other nursing homes try to create a homier atmosphere, and might operate like an apartment complex with medical staff on hand. These facilities offer long-term medical care ranging from simple to complex levels of need in an environment built for residents to live in long term instead of just staying a few weeks or months. Many people picture elderly patients in a nursing home. For the most part that’s true—over 80 percent of patients are over the age of 65. But there are also younger patients in nursing homes who may have serious long-term illnesses and need care beyond what their families can provide.
Orthopedic medicine deals with muscles and bones. Physical therapists are typically the practitioner patients see for problems in these areas of the body. If you are experiencing chronic lower back pain, for example, you might see a physical therapist at an orthopedic center or clinic to get a diagnosis and a plan of treatment. Orthopedic centers deal in everything from athletic injuries to therapy for patients with disabilities. They typically offer evaluation and diagnosis of the problem, as well as prevention, treatment and rehabilitation work involving bone, tendon, ligament, muscle and joint conditions. There are also rehabilitation centers where patients can receive various therapies to help restore their abilities after an illness or injury. Physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy are all processes that help people gain or regain skills they need to move around, work or speak in daily life.
Urgent care (UR) facilities exist for on-demand healthcare needs that aren’t severe enough for the emergency room, but are too severe or concerning to wait for a scheduled appointment at the doctor’s office. Urgent care is a common choice when children get sick, for example, and need an immediate diagnosis or relief from symptoms. Providers in the UR are experts in acute care. They can set broken bones and treat limb fractures; diagnose a viral illness; run strep tests, blood tests and urine labs and provide treatment for injuries. If a problem is too severe, then urgent care practitioners will call an ambulance or refer patients to a hospital or specialist.