Medical
Department
Accident and emergency
(A&E): Also called Casualty Department,
where you're likely to be taken if you have arrived
in an ambulance or emergency situation.
Admissions: At
the Admitting Department, the patient will be
required to provide personal information and sign
consent forms before being taken to the hospital
unit or ward. If the individual is critically ill,
then, this information is usually obtained from a
family member.
Anesthetics:
Doctors in this department give anesthetic for
operations and procedures. An anesthetic is a drug
or agent that produces a complete or partial loss of
feeling. There are three kinds of anesthetic:
general, regional and local.
Breast Screening:
Screens women for breast cancer and is
usually linked to the X-ray or radiology department.
Burn Center (Burn Unit or
Burns Unit): A hospital specializing in
the treatment of burns. Burn centers are often used
for the treatment and recovery of patients with more
severe burns.
Cardiology:
Provides medical care to patients who have problems
with their heart or circulation.
Central Sterile Services
Department (CSSD): (Sterile Processing
Department (SPD) - Sterile Processing - Central
Supply Department (CSD) - Central Supply) - A place
in hospitals and other health care facilities that
performs sterilization and other actions on medical
equipment, devices, and consumables.
Chaplaincy:
Chaplains promote the spiritual and pastoral
wellbeing of patients, relatives and staff.
Coronary Care Unit (CCU): (Cardiac intensive care
unit (CICU) - A hospital ward specialized in the
care
of patients with heart attacks, unstable angina,
cardiac dysrhythmia and other cardiac conditions
that require
continuous monitoring and treatment.
Critical Care:
Also called intensive care, this department is for
seriously ill patients.
Diagnostic Imaging:
Also known as X-Ray Department and/or
Radiology Department.
Discharge Lounge:
Patients who don't need to stay in a ward are
transferred to the lounge on the day of discharge.
Many hospitals now have discharge lounges with
facilities such as TV's, radio, puzzles,
magazines, books and newspapers.
Elderly services:
Covers and assists with a wide range of issues
associated with seniors.
Finance Department:
Performs all works related to budget and
ideal use of the items of such budget. Also, it
prepares payrolls and monthly wages, and concludes
contracts of operation and maintenance and
purchases. In addition, it makes available all
amounts of money required for procurement of all
materials and equipment.
Gastroenterology:
This department investigates and treats digestive
and upper and lower gastrointestinal diseases.
General Services:
Support Services include services provided by
Departments such as Portering, Catering,
Housekeeping, Security, Health & Safety, Switch,
Laundry and the management of facilities such as
parking, baby tagging, access control, CCTV etc.
General Surgery:
Covers a wide range of types of surgery and
procedures on patients.
Gynecology:
Investigates and treats problems relating to the
female urinary tract and reproductive organs, such
as Endometriosis, infertility and incontinence.
Haematology:
These hospital services work with the laboratory. In
addition doctors treat blood diseases and
malignancies
related to the blood.
Health & Safety:
The role of the occupational health and
safety department is to promote and maintain the
highest possible degree of health and safety for all
employees, physicians, volunteers, students and
contractors, and actively participates in quality,
safety and risk initiatives. Numerous health and
safety issues associated with healthcare facilities
include blood-borne pathogens and biological
hazards, potential chemical and drug exposures,
waste anesthetic gas exposures, respiratory hazards,
ergonomic hazards from lifting and repetitive tasks,
laser hazards, hazards associated with laboratories,
and radioactive material and x-ray hazards. In
addition to the medical staff, large healthcare
facilities employ a wide variety of trades that have
health and safety hazards associated with them.
These include mechanical maintenance, medical
equipment maintenance, housekeeping, food service,
building and grounds maintenance, laundry, and
administrative staff.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU):
(Intensive Therapy Unit, Intensive Treatment Unit (ITU),
Critical Care Unit (CCU) - A special department of a
hospital or health care facility that provides
intensive treatment medicine and caters to patients
with severe and life-threatening illnesses and
injuries, which require constant, close monitoring
and support from specialist equipment and
medications.
Human Resources: Role is to provide a
professional, efficient and customer focused service
to managers and staff and in turn facilitate the
delivery of a professional, efficient and customer
focused service to patients.
Infection Control:
Primarily responsible for conducting surveillance of
hospital-acquired infections and investigating and
controlling outbreaks or infection clusters among
patients and health care personnel. The department
calculates rates of hospital-acquired infections,
collates antibiotic susceptibility data, performs
analysis of aggregated infection data and provides
comparative data to
national benchmarks over time.
Information Management:
Meaningful information can be used in quality
management, continuous quality improvement and peer
review. By improving the quality of information,
core data can be provided for randomized clinical
trials, outcomes research and many studies.
Maternity:
Maternity wards provide antenatal care, delivery of
babies and care during childbirth, and postnatal
support.
Medical Records:
Includes a variety of types of "notes" entered
over time by health care professionals, recording
observations and administration of drugs and
therapies, orders for the administration of drugs
and therapies, test results, x-rays, reports, etc.
Microbiology:
The microbiology department provides an extensive
clinical service, including mycology, parasitology,
mycobacteriology, a high security pathology unit,
and a healthcare associated infection investigation
unit, as well as routine bacteriology and an
expanding molecular diagnostic repertoire.
Neonatal:
Closely linked with the hospital maternity
department, provides care and support for babies and
their families.
Nephrology:
Monitors and assesses patients with various kidney
(renal) problems and conditions.
Neurology: A
medical specialty dealing with disorders of the
nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the
diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease
involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic
nervous systems, including their coverings, blood
vessels, and all effector tissue, such as muscle.
Includes the brain, spinal cord, and spinal cord
injuries (SCI).
Nutrition and Dietetics:
Dietitians and nutritionists provide specialist
advice on diet for hospital wards and outpatient
clinics.
Obstetrics/Gynecology:
Specialist nurses, midwives and imaging technicians
provide maternity services such as: antenatal and
postnatal care, maternal and foetal surveillance,
and prenatal diagnosis.
Occupational Therapy:
Helps physically or mentally impaired people,
including temporary disability, practices in the
fields of both healthcare as well as social care.
Often abbreviated as "OT", Occupational Therapy
promotes health by enabling people to perform
meaningful and purposeful occupations. These include
(but are not limited to) work, leisure, self care,
domestic and community activities. Occupational
therapists work with individuals, families, groups
and communities to facilitate health and well-being
through engagement or re-engagement in occupation.
Oncology: A
branch of medicine that deals with cancer and
tumors. A medical professional who practices
oncology is an oncologist. The Oncology department
provides treatments, including radiotherapy and
chemotherapy, for cancerous tumors and blood
disorders.
Ophthalmology:
Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine which deals
with the diseases and surgery of the visual
pathways, including the eye, hairs, and areas
surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and
eyelids. The term ophthalmologist is an eye
specialist for medical and surgical problems. The
Ophthalmology department provides a range of
ophthalmic eye
related services for both in and outpatients.
Orthopaedics:
Treats conditions related to the musculoskeletal
system, including joints, ligaments, bones, muscles,
tendons and nerves. Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and
Throat): The ENT Department provide comprehensive
and specialized care covering both Medical and
Surgical conditions related not just specifically to
the Ear, Nose and Throat, but also other areas
within the Head and Neck region. It is often divided
into sub-specialties dealing with only one part of
the traditional specialty (ontology, rhinology and
laryngology).
Pain Management:
Helps treat patients with severe long-term
pain. Alternative pain relief treatments such as
acupuncture, nerve blocks and drug treatment, are
also catered for.
Patient Accounts:
The Patient Accounts Department answers all billing
questions and concerns, requests for itemized bills,
and account balance inquiries. The patient accounts
department also assists patients in their insurance
benefits for services rendered.
Patient Services:
The Patient Services Manager is a source of
information and can channel patient queries in
relation to hospital services to the appropriate
departments.
Pharmacy:
Responsible for drugs in a hospital, including
purchasing, supply and distribution.
Physiotherapy:
Physiotherapists work through physical therapies
such as exercise, massage, and manipulation of
bones, joints and muscle tissues.
Purchasing & Supplies:
Purchasing & Supplies Department is
responsible for the procurement function of the
hospital.
Radiology: The
branch or specialty of medicine that deals with the
study and application of imaging technology like
x-ray and radiation to diagnosing and treating
disease. The Department of Radiology is a highly
specialized, full-service department which strives
to meet all patient and clinician needs in
diagnostic imaging and image-guided therapies.
Radiotherapy:
Also called radiation therapy, is the treatment of
cancer and other diseases with ionizing radiation.
Renal: Provides
facilities for peritoneal dialysis and helps
facilitate home Hemodialysis.
Rheumatology:
Rheumatologists care for and treat patients for
musculoskeletal disorders such as: bones, joints,
ligaments, tendons, muscles and nerves.
Sexual Health:
Also known as genitourinary medicine - Provides
advice, testing and treatment for sexually
transmitted infections, family planning care,
pregnancy testing and advice, care and support for
sexual and genital problems.
Social Work:
Clinical social workers help patients and their
families deal with the broad range of psychosocial
issues and stresses related to coping with illness
and maintaining health. Social workers, resource
specialists and advocates form a network that
addresses the challenges families face, increases
accessibility to health care and other human
services, and serves as a bridge between the
hospital setting and a patient's family life, home
and community.
Urology: The
urology department is run by consultant urology
surgeons and investigates areas linked to kidney and
bladder conditions.
