Heal skill question : long term care

[Question]

Providing long-term care means treating a wounded person for a day or more. If your Heal check is successful, the patient recovers hit points or ability score points (lost to ability damage) at twice the normal rate: 2 hit points per level for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 hit points per level for each full day of complete rest; 2 ability score points for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 ability score points for each full day of complete rest.

I dont get it, you need at least a day to treat a wounded person, which i assume to mean a full day of resting.

But at the same time the patient gets 2 hp per level for a full 8 hours of rest.

Doesnt this mean that you can treat the patient for 8 hours only to get 2 hp per level?

[Xaratherus]

You can treat a person without having them rest constantly. For instance you could have them rest for 8 hours and treat them during that time, and then for the remainder of the day stick around to do minor things (like check bandages and dressings, reapply salves, etc.) they could go about their business as normal and heal 2 hit points per level at the end of the 24-hour period.

If they dorest for the full 24 hours and you're treating them the entire time, then they'd recover 4 hit points per level.

[Question]

So you only need 8 hours min and not the "full day" that it says you need?

[Xaratherus]

Question wrote:

So you only need 8 hours min and not the "full day" that it says you need?

Effectively yes. You need 8 hours of rest and concentrated treatment, and then for the rest of the 24-hour period you just do minor things like replacing poultices that can be done in a couple of minutes and don't require you to be focusing on resting.