Benches on seaside promenades were occupied by convalescing patients covered in blankets, all wearing hats and scarves. Today the terms sanatorium and convalescence have practically disappeared from the medical vocabulary. In the harsh competitive 1990s, convalescence is for wimps. Modern healthcare systems demand minimal hospital stays. Patients are largely happy with this and increasingly are managed at outpatient level.
Day surgery is now the preferred option if possible.
People are being cut, cured and discharged with all the speed of a factory production line. The subliminal message our patients are receiving is that speed and efficiency are highly valued, yet rest is not worth mentioning. Convalescence used to be a time for rest and reflection, an important part of becoming well again. No sensible modern physician would recommend that a patient who suffered a myocardial infarction, for example, should rest in bed for six weeks, as was the norm 30 years ago. One fears the pendulum of management has swung too far in the other direction.