To understand this question let's start with the categorization of general hospitals in China. China's hospitals are categorized into three grades according to different levels of function and service: one A, two A and three A hospitals. Also commonly referred to as several levels of hospitals, these hospitals are certified by the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) or provincial health administrations, and are the most representative symbols of China's hospital system.
First-class hospitals are hospitals with stronger comprehensive strength, more advanced medical technology and equipment, and high levels of medical services and teaching and research capabilities. It usually has the following characteristics:
1. Provides comprehensive medical services, covering various departments and diagnostic and treatment techniques.
2. Advanced equipment, mature technology and high quality of doctors and technicians.
3. Strong scientific research capability and high level teaching ability.
4. Strong medical insurance billing capability.
Second-class hospitals are slightly less powerful than first-class hospitals, but they also have a more complete health care system that provides diagnostic and treatment services for all kinds of common diseases.
Tertiary hospitals, on the other hand, are the most powerful hospitals with the highest level of medical technology and equipment, providing the most advanced treatment programs. It is also a center for high-level medical education and research. In general, major diseases, rare diseases and difficult cases require a visit to a tertiary hospital.
For patients, how can they determine which diseases require a visit to a tertiary hospital, and which can be seen in a secondary or primary hospital? Generally speaking, the following conditions require a visit to a tertiary hospital:
Serious illnesses: such as acute heart attack, cerebral hemorrhage, leukemia, and severe pneumonia that require intensive care, extensive laboratory testing, and high-end surgeries and treatments.
Complex diseases: such as cancer, rheumatic diseases, connective tissue diseases, liver disease, kidney disease, etc. require multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment, and often require a variety of means, a variety of treatment options, a variety of medical technology, etc..
High-risk surgeries: such as cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, organ transplants, etc. require a high level of medical technology and equipment, extensive surgical experience and teamwork.
Rare diseases: such as congenital immunodeficiency disease, polycystic liver disease and other relatively rare diseases, need to go to a tertiary-level hospital specialist clinic for diagnosis and treatment.
But not all diseases need to go to a tertiary hospital, you can consider choosing a tertiary or primary hospital for the following conditions:
1. Common diseases: such as colds, fevers, diarrhea, and skin diseases, which are better treated in tertiary or primary hospitals.
2. Mild illnesses: such as minor traumas and minor burns can be treated at general clinics or community health centers.
3. Chronic diseases: such as diabetes, hypertension and other diseases that require long-term treatment can be managed and treated at the nearest second or first class hospital.
4. Children's common diseases: such as fever, cold, cough, diarrhea and so on can go to the pediatric outpatient clinic, these diseases in the pediatric outpatient clinic to get the effect of treatment and tertiary hospitals do not have a big difference in the effect.
5. Common diseases of the elderly: such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, digestive diseases, etc. need to go to the second or first class hospital for treatment.
Overall, the choice of hospitals to visit needs to be decided on a case-by-case basis. Patients should make comprehensive considerations based on their disease conditions, doctors' recommendations, and the strength and equipment of the hospital. In line with the principle of not going to the big hospitals for minor illnesses, i.e., increasing the squeeze on the limited medical resources of the big hospitals, and increasing the cost of medical treatment for patients. Similarly, the government should also strengthen the guidance and publicity, so that people better understand the functions of general hospitals and community clinics, so as to achieve decentralized access to health care system construction of the original intention.