Lionel_M (X) Aug 29, 2009:

Hi Joseph May be I missed the point but "health care facility" is "azienda sanitaria" which is an (sorry "a") "hospital". A "dipartimento interaziendale" is a "department" which is shared for its services (it can be a DH, a recovery, analyses, radiographic investigation, surgery….) between various hospitals while it belongs to one of them. This is just because, on an administrative point of view, the administration cannot be handled by various structures. Conversely, people working in this "dipartimento" may belong to various hospitals/universities (faculty of Medicine,Pharmacy, Nurses….).<br>They have nothing to do with "company", nor they are controlled by "agencies" that in Italy is used for other purposes; i.e. Agenzia Italiana del FArmaco (AIFA is the Italian FDA) which is a governmental structure where people are dependent of the governement while medical staff from “dipartimento interaziendale”DOES NOT belong to the government, but to hospitals and universities they are working for. <br>I don't know if this helps.<br>

Joseph Tein (asker) Aug 29, 2009:

Grazie Lionel Your comment below about 'aziende ospedaliere' is clear and helpful. The Italian names of health care facilities and hospitals are still confusing to me. (E grazie anche a Stefano.)

Lionel_M (X) Aug 29, 2009:

Vero Stefano Tuttavia rimane il fatto che le ASL sono delle aziende ospedialiere e quindi, in inglese, "hospital". Se il solo termine "aziendale" (company) viene usato, il rischio è di perdere il riferimento a l'ospedale.

Stefano Pastorello Aug 29, 2009:

The adjective 'interaziendale' may derive from the noun 'azienda' as used in the denomination 'Azienda Sanitaria Locale' (A.S.L.). If the university of Padua serves various A.S.L.s of the Veneto region, this division of the university hospital might be called a 'dipartimento interaziendale'. ... well, ...just an idea ... without having investigated the term.