Teaching hospital

A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides clinical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are often affiliated with medical schools and work closely with medical students throughout their period of matriculation, and especially during their clerkship (internship) years. In most cases, teaching hospitals also offer Graduate Medical Education (GME)/ physician residency programs, where medical school graduates train under a supervising (attending) physician to assist with the coordination of care.

In addition to offering medical education to medical students and physician residents, many teaching hospitals also serve as research institutes.

History

Although institutions for caring for the sick are known to have existed much earlier in history, the first teaching hospital, where students were authorized to methodically practice on patients under the supervision of physicians as part of their education, was reportedly the Academy of Gundishapur in the Persian Empire during the Sassanid era.

Whipps Cross University Hospital

Whipps Cross University Hospital is an NHS-run university hospital in Whipps Cross, Waltham Forest, London, United Kingdom which housed London's first hyperbaric unit.

The hospital has one of the largest and busiest A&E departments in the UK and serves a diverse community from Chigwell to Leyton. The chief executive of the hospital is Catherine Geedes.

Whipps Cross is part of Barts Health NHS Trust.

The closest stations are Leytonstone tube station on the London Underground's Central line and Wood Street railway station on National Rail's Chingford Branch Line. There are several buses that connect the hospital to Leytonstone station.

History

In 1889 the West Ham Board of Guardians purchased Forest House with 44 acres (18 ha) of grounds at Whipps Cross in Leytonstone, with the intention of building a workhouse. Construction of an infirmary started in 1900 and was completed in 1903. Designed by Francis Sturdy, the former main entrance is in the style of a northern Renaissance town hall. When it opened the infirmary provided 672 beds in 24 wards in four awe-inspiring symmetrical blocks with tiered covered walkways and two massive towers. The buildings cost £186,000 to construct, which was criticised as extravagant.

Whipps Cross

Coordinates: 51°34′54″N 0°00′02″E / 51.581539°N 0.000476°E / 51.581539; 0.000476

Whipps Cross is an area of the London Borough of Waltham Forest in London, England. It is most famous for Whipps Cross University Hospital.

The environs

The name "Whipps Cross" specifically applies to the junction of Lea Bridge Road (A104) with Whipps Cross Road (A114) and Wood Street (B160). It lay on the boundary of the former civil parishes and Municipal Boroughs of Walthamstow and Leyton, which were both incorporated into Waltham Forest in 1965. It is the highest point in Leyton at 63 metres (207 ft) above sea level.

The area to the south and west of Whipps Cross is residential, mainly terraced housing built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. On the south side of the Whipps Cross junction is a large Victorian house which is used as a Territorial Army Centre by 68 Signal Squadron of the Inns of Court and City Yeomanry. Adjacent to this building is a war memorial in the form of a Celtic cross, to the 7th Battalion, the Essex Regiment (Territorial) and other local Territorial Army units of both World Wars. It bears the inscription "WE ARE THE DEAD. TO YOU WITH FAILING HANDS WE THROW THE TORCH; BE YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH." This memorial was moved from Church Hill, Walthamstow when the TA drill hall there closed in the 1950s.

Cross

A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other, dividing one or two of the lines in half. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally; if they run obliquely, the design is technically termed a saltire, although the arms of a saltire need not meet at right angles.

The cross is one of the most ancient human symbols, and has been used by many religions, most notably Christianity. It may be seen as a division of the world into four elements (Chevalier, 1997) or cardinal points, or alternately as the union of the concepts of divinity, the vertical line, and the world, the horizontal line (Koch, 1955).

Etymology

The word cross comes ultimately from Latin crux, a Roman torture device used for crucifixion, via Old Irish cros. The word was introduced to English in the 10th century as the term for the instrument of the torturous execution of Jesus as described in the New Testament, gradually replacing the earlier word rood. Crux is possibly derived from Phoenician. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia cross does not come from crux but form the Latin curio, "to torment".

Hospital

A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized staff and equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which has an emergency department. A district hospital typically is the major health care facility in its region, with large numbers of beds for intensive care and long-term care. Specialised hospitals include trauma centres, rehabilitation hospitals, children's hospitals, seniors' (geriatric) hospitals, and hospitals for dealing with specific medical needs such as psychiatric problems (see psychiatric hospital) and certain disease categories. Specialised hospitals can help reduce health care costs compared to general hospitals.

A teaching hospital combines assistance to people with teaching to medical students and nurses. The medical facility smaller than a hospital is generally called a clinic. Hospitals have a range of departments (e.g., surgery, and urgent care) and specialist units such as cardiology. Some hospitals have outpatient departments and some have chronic treatment units. Common support units include a pharmacy, pathology, and radiology.