Health system

A health system, also sometimes referred to as health care system or healthcare system, is the organization of people, institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations.

There is a wide variety of health systems around the world, with as many histories and organizational structures as there are nations. Implicitly, nations must design and develop health systems in accordance with their needs and resources, although common elements in virtually all health systems are primary healthcare and public health measures. In some countries, health system planning is distributed among market participants. In others, there is a concerted effort among governments, trade unions, charities, religious organizations, or other co-ordinated bodies to deliver planned health care services targeted to the populations they serve. However, health care planning has been described as often evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

Goals

The World Health Organization (WHO), the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system, is promoting a goal of universal health care: to ensure that all people obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship when paying for them. According to WHO, healthcare systems' goals are good health for the citizens, responsiveness to the expectations of the population, and fair means of funding operations. Progress towards them depends on how systems carry out four vital functions: provision of health care services, resource generation, financing, and stewardship. Other dimensions for the evaluation of health systems include quality, efficiency, acceptability, and equity. They have also been described in the United States as "the five C's": Cost, Coverage, Consistency, Complexity, and Chronic Illness. Also, continuity of health care is a major goal.

Christiana Care Health System

Christiana Care Health System is a network of private, non-profit hospitals providing health care services to all of Delaware and portions of seven counties bordering the state in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. The system includes two hospitals in Delaware, Wilmington Hospital and Christiana Hospital, as well as the Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Center, the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center, the Center for Heart & Vascular Health, Visiting Nurse Association and a wide range of outpatient and satellite services. It is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.

The system's history dates to 1890, when Delaware Hospital was first opened in Wilmington. It was expanded throughout the subsequent decades. In 1965, it merged with Memorial Hospital and Wilmington General Hospital to form Wilmington Medical Center, with each of the three facilities being known as a "division", thus Delaware Hospital became known as the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center. Later it was decided to close the other two hospitals and replace them with a new one, Christiana Hospital. In 1985, the Delaware Division was renamed Wilmington Hospital.

Christiana

Christiana may refer to:

In geography:

People

See also

Care

Care may refer to:

Social concepts

Internal medicine

Internal medicine or general medicine (in Commonwealth nations) is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists, or physicians (without a modifier) in Commonwealth nations. Internists are skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes. Internists care for hospitalized and ambulatory patients and may play a major role in teaching and research.

Because internal medicine patients are often seriously ill or require complex investigations, internists do much of their work in hospitals. Internists often have subspecialty interests in diseases affecting particular organs or organ systems.

Internal medicine is also a specialty within clinical pharmacy and veterinary medicine.

History

Historically, some of the oldest traces of internal medicine can be traced from Ancient India and Ancient China. Earliest texts about internal medicine are the Ayurvedic anthologies of Charaka.