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The inner surfaces of the heart’s chambers are lined with a thin sheet of shiny, white tissue known as the endocardium. The same type of tissue, more broadly referred to as endothelium, also lines the body’s blood vessels, forming one continuous lining throughout the circulatory system. This lining helps blood flow smoothly and prevents blood clots from forming inside the circulatory system.
What is the endocardium?
The endocardium is the inner layer of the heart. It consists of epithelial tissue and connective tissue.
Function:
Lines the inner cavities of the heart, covers heart valves and is continuous with the inner lining of blood vessels.
Purkinje fibers are located in the endocardium. They participate in the contraction of the heart muscle.
HISTORY OF HOSPITALS:
Today the United States is home to 6,021 hospitals that contain over 1 million hospital beds. U.S.hospitals annually admit some 34 million patients who are assigned a bed and receive medical or surgical treatment as inpatients. Hospitals also provide outpatient treatment in clinics or other walk-in, or ambulatory, settings for an additional 483 million patients every year.
Hospitals in the United States are classified by the services they provide (general or specialized), the length of stay they offer patients (short stay or long-term care), and by their ownership (not-for-profit, proprietary, or government owned). Although most U.S. hospitals are classified as not-for-profit, any one hospital will fall into several of the above categories. For example, Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, with more than 300,000 sq m (3 million sq ft) of space, is one of the largest short-stay, not-for-profit, general hospitals in the country.
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HISTORY OF HOSPITALS
