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Does one say "Hospitalization/hospitalized" when it comes to staying at the hospital because you're sick?

Or is it "I'm being admitted at the hospital"?

And If I was compiling a statistic of people going in and out of the hospital, could I say "entries" and "leaves"?

RegDwigнt
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João Paulo
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  • By the way I have found an interesting article: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/19604/is-there-a-reason-the-british-omit-the-article-when-they-go-to-hospital – João Paulo Sep 28 '12 at 11:46

2 Answers2

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Hospitalization is more often used to record or count times people are hospitalized.

How many hospitalizations were uninsured last year?

It could be used to describe ones own hospital stay, but is infrequent.

I had three hospitalizations in a two month span.

More frequently, one would say

I was hospitalized three times in two months.

Hospitalize (and its past tense, hospitalized) is commonly used both to describe ones own hospital stay as well as those of others

I was hospitalized for asthma last year.
We had to hospitalize him after a fall.

The verb to admit is also regularly used both describing oneself and others.

I was admitted to the hospital.
They admitted him to the hospital for a broken leg.

Entry into a hospital is usually called an admission. Departure from a hospital is usually called a discharge. Both noun and verb forms are used.

I was admitted to the hospital.
It's an emergency; admit the patient now.
There were several admissions to the hospital today for flu.
She was discharged immediately after the operation.
I will discharge the patient when his fever goes down.
Her discharge was followed by a readmission for infection.

NOTE: The use of the article the before hospital follows US custom in this answer.

bib
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You could say "hospitalizes/hospitalization" or "I'm being admitted to hospital" (NOT "at the").

For statistics, if you are referring only to patients, then they could be classed as "outpatient visits" ("outpatients" are patients who got to hospital for an appointment but do not take up a bed, i.e. they go in, see the doctor/nurse, and leave to go home again after their appointment.)

Patients are "admitted" to hospital overnight - "patient admissions". When they are well enough to go home they are "discharged". "Patient discharges" seems to be the appropriate term, but could suggest something else!

See http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/180

choster
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Suke
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  • You apparently think something is wrong with “I’m being admitted at the hospital”. If so, what is wrong with it? – James Waldby - jwpat7 Sep 29 '12 at 05:00
  • It should be "I'm being admitted *to hospital". The verb "admit" takes the preposition "to", not "at" here. As discussed by others, the use of the definite article seems to depend on whether you speak US or British English. In the variety of English I speak (British), the definite article is not required and, indeed, sounds odd. – Suke Oct 02 '12 at 13:40
  • You assert that admit takes preposition to, not at, in the example sentence. Do you have a reference to support that assertion? – James Waldby - jwpat7 Oct 02 '12 at 14:25
  • @Suke This is an old post, but I wanted to note that the phrase "being admitted to hospital" is very much alien to American English. Americans will generally put an article before hospital (admitted to the hospital). We would only leave out the article if hospitals was plural (e.g. "One thousand patients were admitted to hospitals around the city after the earthquake"). It's vaguely reminiscent of how British people use the word "sport". Brits talk about their love of sport, while Americans talk about their love of sports. – ivanatpr Mar 04 '14 at 19:26