What sort of information would I need to know in order to write a series of short stories about a hospital?

Answer 1

What do you think you need to know if you want to write about a hospital ? What goes on in a hospital ? Who are hospital personnel ? Duties those people perform? Training required to perform those duties? How about the supply services? And the maintenance services to keep the areas sterile and bacteria free? Don't forget the anesthesiologist, the food services the outpatient clinic and the discharge routine? Is this enough to get started?

Answer 2

Wow, it depends on your story and your characters. I'd find out as much as possible about hospitals first -- the staff, medical jargon, etc. Could you find a hospital where you could volunteer? Or, maybe you could talk to a top hospital administrator and request a tour, explaining your reasoning.

Do you have relatives or friends who work in the medical field? Or do they know someone who does? They could be a good source of information. If any of them also write (or at least proofread), see if you can enlist one as a beta, to make sure you haven't written something that wouldn't happen a certain way, or that nothing is glaringly wrong.

Answer 3

This is interesting, but it really deponds on what sort of story youre actually doing. One could theoretically just use bland, common medical information in a story if its about a certain character and their own internal emotional conflict, then again if you're doing a House/ER-esque medical mystery theme then you may want to do some research. In my experience, even though its cool to use actual medical references, the best hospital/medical stories have always just been some crazy thing that somebody conjured up. You may have to research a few "false positive" possible ailments/conditions that could lead your protagonist to believe the case is something that it is not, but thats all your perogative. In either case, just research what it specifically is that you're writing about and just run with it.

-J>

Answer 4

the more convincing your story, the better it will be.

if you've never worked at one, you should interview/make friends with people who have. Don't use their actual stories, but use them to get a better feel for your setting/characters.