Accidents, and other forms of major body trauma can happen at any time of day or night. In fact, statistically, an individual is more likely to have a stroke or segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), which is the most severe form of heart attack, early in the morning, out of, so called, office hours.
With that in mind, we can all be grateful that any credible medical facility will operate an emergency service, available to all, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is no less than the public can expect in a civilized world. But emergency service is just part of the intricate picture of medical care at a modern hospital.
The vast majority of people that go hospital do not arrive by emergency ambulance and go straight to the emergency room. Every day, thousands of people attend hospital for routine medical treatment and scheduled operative procedures. The majority of these patients arrive, and go home, the same day. Prima facie, this seems ultimately efficient and convenient for the public.
World class hospitals, such as the Samitivej Hospital Group, do offer a service whose efficiency is second to none, and globally accredited. But is it always convenient? For generations, non-emergency medical care has been looked upon as a 9-5 service, and for many facilities across the world, this is still the case.
However, the modern world, through global integration, is not a 9-5 operation. Lifestyles are as diverse as the world itself. With developed countries functioning around the clock, seven days a week, life has had to evolve to meet the demands of industrial and commercial output, not to mention the need to offer leisure and downtime facilities for the public.
With the changes that our world has undergone, and continues to undergo, the 9-5 approach to medical care is no longer as convenient for the general public as it once was. For our modern generation, life is faster and more complex than it used to be. Life pressures, work schedules and domestic obligations have left the individual with fewer vacant windows of opportunity to deal with other issues.
These pressures have meant that many people are putting off seeking the non-emergency medical care that they should be having. Delaying medical attention due to life pressures can lead to more serious, and more complicated problems further down the line. Of course, this can ultimately mean that a person’s quality of life is detrimentally altered because they were unable to schedule routine medical care into a busy schedule.
Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok has recognized the problems that patients have with accessing routine medical care during the traditional hours. With many facilities still conducting routine medical care from 9-5 Monday to Fridays, it was obvious that an alternative option was necessary, and that alternative is a reality.
That reality is the Samitivej Night Clinic. The hospital has redefined the traditional hours of routine medical care, they no longer see the service as a 9-5 operation. Every day at Samitivej Hospital, at 6pm the baton of routine medical care is picked up by the Night Clinic, and continues up to 10pm. Additionally, for the convenience of the public, the service operates seven days a week.
Treatments at Samitivej’s Night Clinic
The night clinic encompasses a wide spectrum of medical diagnostics and treatment, including general medical care. This includes patients with conditions that cause headaches, migraines, dizziness, and disorientation. Medical issues that cause vomiting attacks, fever, sore throat, a runny nose, or a cough are routinely dealt with.
There are numerous health issues that can cause a lack of consciousness, fainting or a general feeling of confusion and malaise. Likewise, slow, involuntary, and spasmodic limb movements and shaking are diagnosed and treated, as is unusual limb and muscle stiffness.
Commonly, the professional team at the Night Clinic diagnose and treat a vast range of gastrointestinal diseases and symptoms. Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, or (GERD) is an unpleasant condition suffered by many people, and along with other stomach and digestive tract health issues, such as pain and difficulties with swallowing are successfully dealt with at the Night Clinic.
Abdominal pain, stomach tightness and severe indigestion, or diarrhea, sever constipation and blood in the stools are common complaints that are brought to the practitioners at the Night Clinic. It is also common for the team to treat uncontrollable bowel movements, which is becoming a more common complaint among patients.
At the Samitivej Night Clinic the professionally diverse team also deal with health problems relating to the bones and skeletal joints, typically, rheumatism and arthritis. However, back pain and issues with the spinal vertebrae is a complex area of medical science which require very specialist medical skills, which are on hand at the Night Clinic.
Many people live with chronic medical conditions which affect their daily lives, to varying degrees. Chronic diseases often require ongoing treatment and, or monitoring. With its flexible hours, the Night Clinic facilitates these patients and allows them to lead their normal lives with out of hours’ routine treatment. These conditions may include, although not exclusively, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, or epilepsy.
The Samitivej Night Clinic is staffed by internationally trained doctors from across the range of hospitals facilities. This includes professionals from the hospital’s Internal Medicine Clinic, the Institute of Liver and Digestive Medicine and the Samitivej International Children’s Hospital. The depth of medical skills available at the Night Clinic has ensured the success of the facility.
This clinic perfectly complements the modern lifestyle of non-9-5 living in our modern world. Individuals with chronic, undiagnosed medical issues, or simply a niggling complaint no longer have to delay or ignore the issue. Professional diagnostics and treatment are at hand up to 10pm at night.
Sickness, disease, and injury do not keep office hours, and nor do millions of people across the world. The convenience of the Night Clinic is available to all, up to 10pm at night, the indigenous population, foreign expats, tourists and foreigners simply seeking expert medical care can access the facility.
As part of Samitivej Hospital’s flexible, comprehensive approach to medical care, and in addition to the convenience of the Night Clinic, whilst also being aware of the unpredictability of sickness, disease and injury, after 10pm all patients arriving at Samitivej Hospital will be administered and treated by one of the professional emergency teams of physicians, which are on call 24 hours a day.
