c.
United States Army Community Hospital or Army Medical Center. The
functions of an Army Community hospital are organized into workable groupings that
will best serve professional and administrative requirements.
(1)
Professional departments and services. A standard organizational
pattern is provided for an Army Community hospital that is organized as an element of a
Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC) under command of the United States Army
Medical Command in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Panama Canal Zone.
Hospitals in other areas may follow the same general pattern and modifications are
made in accordance with specific missions and workloads.
(a)
Hospital nursing units for inpatient care are divided among the
departments of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and psychiatry.
(b)
Dental clinics and services are provided for inpatients and for
outpatients by The Department of Dentistry.
(c)
Inpatient and emergency treatment services are operated by
The Department of Primary Care and Community Medicine.
(d)
Other professional services are provided by the departments of
radiology, pathology, nursing, and by the services of social work and of pharmacy.
NOTE: A hospital that is organized as an Army medical center, also under the Medical
Command, has the same professional elements with additional delineations and
departments and services according to workload or according to the necessity for
incorporating functions that are organized separately from the hospital under the
MEDDAC.
(2)
Administrative divisions . Administrative functions are grouped as
follows: logistics, information management, resource management, clinical support,
patient administration, personnel, nutrition care, and plans, operations, and training.
The hospital operated as an Army medical center has the same administrative elements
with variations in designations to denote a wider scope of responsibilities or additional
elements that are organized separately from the hospital under the MEDDAC. In both
Army community hospitals and Army medical centers, however, the designations and
scope of functions of the Department of Primary Care and Community Medicine
(professional department) and of The Patient Administration Division are essentially the
same and emphasize the common responsibilities that relate to outpatient and inpatient
administration in any medical treatment facility setting.
d.
Outpatient Services. Outpatient services have assumed increasing
workloads as improvements in drugs and treatment measures allow clinic treatment for
patients who formerly required admission to hospitals. Since The Department of
Primary Care and Community Medicine in an Army hospital or medical center operates
emergency treatment and clinic services, most admissions to the hospital are through
these channels. The department prevents unnecessary admissions and reduces the
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