The Community General Hospital

In Western societies, the hospital stands in a unique relationship to the crucial experiences of man’s existence. The vast majority of people in American society-over 95%-are born in hospitals, and a majority also live their last hours within one. During any given day, tens of thousands of people obtain some institutionalized medical treatment for accidents and illnesses. Finally, of course, the hospital provides the bulk of medical care for victims of disasters and catastrophes. Thus, people in American society experience most critical threats to life within the context of the hospital organization. It is not surprising, therefore, that hospitals in this country are major enterprises. There are about 7,130 such institutions, employing over 2,300,000 full-time persons. With a combined total of about 1.7 million beds, they handled in. 1968 a total of nearly 30 million patient admissions.