Introduction
The Shouldice Hospital located right outside Toronto in Canada was founded in 1945 by Dr. Earle Shouldice and strictly performs hernia repair operations only. The hospital has a capacity of 90 beds, 12 full-time surgeons, and seven part-time assistant surgeons and performs an average of 7,000 operations a year.
Comparison of Shouldice Hospital to a Typical Hospital
The setting of the hospital is very different from the ones in general hospitals. The hospital is built on a converted country estate with beautiful landscapes, walking paths, tennis courts and stables, giving the hospital a serene country club environment. The hospital also encourages socialization between patients. This is done through such methods as pairing up patients with the same backgrounds and interests as roommates, having meals in a common place as opposed to their rooms and setting aside time for socializing.
The policies of the hospital are also very different from the policies of regular hospitals. The Shouldice Hospital does not accept all hernia patients but turns away the ones with complications that could lead to medical risks; this is because the hospital is not equipped to deal with such risks. The accepted patients are given appointments and are expected to arrive at the hospital a day before the scheduled surgery and stay for three days for rehabilitation and recovery. Patients are subjected to early movement after the operation to promote a speedy recovery. The surgeries are performed only five days a week, but the hospital operates seven days a week to cater for recovering patients. This is not the case in most hospitals as patients there have same day surgery recovery and are sometimes immediately sent to recover with the help of family members or home care services.
The hospital’s infection and recurrence rates are lower than hernia operations performed at general hospitals; this is because the surgeons at the hospital perform hernia operations only making them possess great expertise on how to successfully perform the surgeries.
Capacity Rate and Bed Utilization of the Hospital
The hospital makes good use of the number of beds it has with the beds being at 100% capacity most days of the week. This is because the hospital performs an average of 7,000 surgeries annually with the surgeries being done only five days a week that is from Monday to Friday. From the statistic, we can conclude that the hospital performs approximately 584 surgeries a month, 146 surgeries a week, and 30 surgeries a day. This is assuming that the surgeries are performed without any interruptions all weekdays even during public holidays. The calculations for the findings are shown below:
= (7,000/12)
= 583.3333
= (584/4)
= 146
= (146/5)
= 29.2
We have seen that the hospital performs surgeries from Monday to Friday, operating on approximately 30 patients a day. According to the hospital policy, patients arrive at the hospital a day before the scheduled operation and stay in the hospital for three days for recuperation. This means that the hospital will be receiving patients all days of the week with the exception of Friday and Saturday. The hospital is also expected to be at full capacity on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, have 60 patients on Monday and 30 patients on Saturday and Sunday. The calculations are shown below.
Conclusion
The Shouldice Hospital environment, operation criteria, and staff expertise have made the hospital the best at hernia operations. This is seen in the number of surgeries performed annually, with the hospital resources being utilized to its full potential in accordance with the hospital’s policies.
Works cited:
Chase, Richard. B. and Robert. F. Jacobs. " Shouldice Hospital - A Cut Above ." The University of British Columbia (2010): 139-140. Document.
