Hospitals and clinics are places where doctors and nurses help sick or hurt people get better. A hospital is a big building where people can stay overnight if they need a lot of care. A clinic is a smaller place where you go for checkups or when you feel a little sick. There are about 6,000 hospitals in the United States, and almost every community has at least one clinic nearby.
Hospitals have a special room called the emergency room, or ER, where people go if they are very sick or badly hurt. The ER is open 24 hours a day, every single day of the year. A doctor who takes care of kids is called a pediatrician. Doctors use a tool called a stethoscope to listen to your heart and lungs. The stethoscope was invented in 1816 by a French doctor named Rene Laennec. Before that, doctors had to press their ears right against a patient’s chest to hear their heartbeat!
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