Open AccessPatterns of admissions in an acute medical unit: priorities for service development and education
Author(s) -
Natalie J James,
Rumana Hussain,
Alasdair Moonie,
Donald Richardson,
W. Stephen Waring
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acute medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-4892
pISSN - 1747-4884
DOI - 10.52964/amja.0549
Subject(s) - medicine , specialty , acute medicine , unit (ring theory) , service (business) , medical unit , curriculum , identification (biology) , intensive care medicine , medical emergency , family medicine , psychology , pedagogy , mathematics education , mathematics , economy , economics , botany , biology
An Acute Medical Unit has recently been established at York Hospital. The present study sought to characterise the case mix of acutely unwell medical patients to allow identification of priorities for ongoing service development and to assess educational opportunities for trainees in the region. Data were collected for 16001 admission episodes between January 2010 and April 2011 inclusive. These allowed characterisation of the case mix, and identified key priorities where clinical pathway do not yet exist, namely heart failure, urinary tract infection, and acute diarrhoea. Good educational opportunities exist for most aspects of the Acute Medicine curriculum; several weaknesses were identified, and trainees might address these by undertaking a specific period of specialty training in endocrinology and neurology.