The basics

This page will explain the basic mechanics of playing the game. From building your hospital to diagnosing patients and managing staff.

Patients
Patients are the customers that visit your facility. It is your goal to correctly diagnose them and then treat this diagnosis. After this you will receive a payment based on the type of diagnosis and the insurance company the patient is member of. Besides payment the patient "rewards" your hospital with a Prestige rating based on several factors.

Patient intake
Patients can arrive at your hospital in two ways. Walk in or immobile.

Walk in patients only arrive during clinic opening hours (08.00-18.00) and move around the hospital on their own. Most will go to the Emergency department with all their symptoms hidden. Some, however, will have a referral to a specific department and will go to the reception/waiting room of that department immediately. You have to imagine these patients as having seen a doctor at another facility, who then revealed some of their symptoms and decided to send them on to you.

Any of these patients fall under one of three categories.
 * Low threat
 * Medium threat
 * High threat

Low threat patients have(hidden) symptoms and diagnosis that are unlikely to make them collapse. They will proceed straight towards the waiting room and don't visit the reception. Medium threat patients have (hidden) symptoms and diagnosis that are likely to make them collapse eventually. They will go to the reception first where some of their symptoms are revealed (based on the skill of the receptionist). They will then be given priority in the waiting room if required Is this actually a mechanic??? High threat patients have (hidden) symptoms and diagnosis that are very likely to make them collapse (think organ failure for instance). They will follow the same steps as medium threat patients but will gain higher priority in the waiting room.

Immobile patients always have a high threat rating and arrive at your hospital in an ambulance during the day- or night shift. These patients will be taken to the Trauma center for stabilization. After stabilization (suppressing dangerous symptoms) they will be send to another ward for further diagnosis. These patients need to be moved by a nurse on a stretcher.

Amount of patients
The amount of walk-in patients you receive during the day is primarily influenced by the Insurance Companies you have contracted. The number can be found in the insurance company tab. The rating of your hospital slightly affects this number as well. A bad rating would reduce your incoming numbers. Apart from new patients you can have patients from the previous day come back for two reasons: they were misdiagnosed or they were awaiting the results of a test when the day ended.

The amount of immobile patients you receive depends on the amount of ambulances you have purchased.

Treating patients
Once you have confirmed the diagnoses of a patient you can proceed to treating them. Treating a patient consists out of a mandatory treatment and a secondary, optional treatment. The primary treatment is for the diagnosis you (or the ai doctors) have selected. This treatment will complete the processing of the patient. They will pay you, rate your hospital and then leave. The secondary treatments are for the symptoms the patient has. If you treat uncomfortable symptoms the patients will be more comfortable and will rate you hospital higher.

Treatment is often a simple prescription for medication or a simple procedure a doctor can do in his office (cast for instance0. In more complex cases a patient will require surgery..........

Patients leaving
Patients will leave your hospital for several reasons. The main reason is because you diagnosed them and completed the prescribed treatment. You will receive payment and a rating. Unless they were misdiagnosed they will not return. If you cannot diagnose or treat a patient due to missing equipment or rooms you can send them home without treatment. They will leave the hospital and you will receive no pay but will receive a negative rating(is this true?) At the end of clinic opening hours any patient in the process of being diagnosed to treated will leave. Only those awaiting the results of a lab test will return the day after (is this true). Hospitalized patients that can not be treated will be picked up by an ambulance and leave.