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Acute medical assessment units: an efficient alternative to in-hospital acute medical care
Date
2011
Abstract
Acute Medical Assessment Units (AMAUs) are being proposed as an alternative to congested Emergency Departments (EDs) for the assessment of patients with a range of acute medical problems. We retrospectively reviewed the discharge destination of patients referred to a newly established AMAU during a six-month period. During the same period we contrasted activity in the ED for a similar group of patients. 1,562 patients were assessed in the AMAU. 196 (12.5%) were admitted to an in-patient bed and 1,148 (73.5%) were entered into specific diagnosis-driven out-patient pathways. 1,465 patients attended the ED and 635 (43.3%) were admitted. Out-patient alternatives to expensive in-patient care need to be provided at the â coal faceâ of acute referral. The AMAU provides this, and as a consequence admission rates are relatively low. This is achieved by directly communicating with GPs, accessing senior clinical decision makers, and providing immediate access to diagnostically driven outpatient pathways.
Supervisor
Description
peer-reviewed
Publisher
Irish Medical Organisation (IMO)
Citation
Irish Medical Journal;104 (2), pp. 47-49
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Watts_2011_acute.pdf
Adobe PDF, 15.77 KB