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For most of us, hospitals conjure up some very specific images: nurses and doctors running around, fancy machinery beeping away, somebody yelling “STAT!” While hospitals are chaotic places, they are also strangely reassuring. No matter how you are injured or what strange illness you’ve contracted, going to the nearby hospital can make you better. But maybe you don’t need a hospital after all. Did you know:

• Hospitals are an extremely expensive way to treat people
• Technology has made many surgeries less invasive, so that we don’t need to spend as much time in a hospital bed
• Patients in hospitals are often overtreated or required to stay longer than necessary
•  Germany has a higher number of hospital beds than Spain, but the Spanish system is one of the world’s best
• People with chronic health issues are best treated outside of a hospital setting
• 20% of all health spending is wasted on ineffective care

On this episode of Monster Under the Bed, Tunde Szabo and Dana Burduja from the European Investment Bank’s Life Sciences division talk about how many countries actually need to close hospitals, or at least slim them down, to free up resources for other, more effective forms of care.

At the European Investment Bank, we have all kinds of experts who can challenge the assumptions, notions and prejudices we all have about anything from health care to cybercrime, and from urban planning to education.  All throughout the episodes we’ll be tackling those myths and fears to identify people and projects that are taking a more rational approach— which is good for our economy and our society.

Subscribe to Monster Under the Bed on your phone’s podcast app. This way you won’t miss any episodes. We’re also very grateful if you rate and review us – that helps others find the podcast. And you can suggest myths to bust and monsters to slay by tagging me @JSiemplenski on Twitter, or Allar Tankler @AllarTankler.