Open AccessThe Acute Physicians Unit in Scarborough Hospital
Author(s) -
Kayvan Khadjooi,
Christos Dimopoulos,
J. Michael Paterson
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
acute medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1747-4892
pISSN - 1747-4884
DOI - 10.52964/amja.0590
Subject(s) - medicine , acute care , unit (ring theory) , family medicine , emergency medicine , health care , mathematics education , mathematics , economics , economic growth
Aim: The aim of Acute Physicians Unit (APU) in Scarborough Hospital is consultant led delivery of acute medical care. It operates weekdays from 9am to 5pm, staffed by a consultant physician, a trained nurse and an auxiliary nurse. We reviewed the APU activity over 38 months. Results: 7170 patients were referred to APU, mainly from GPs (59.6%) and A&E (26.5%). The most common type of referrals: cardiovascular 21%, neurological 16.9% and respiratory 15.1%. It prevented admission in 2217 cases (30.9%): 22.4% were sent home after assessment in APU and in 8.5% telephone advice was sufficient. Conclusion: The APU has led to early consultant review in 53% of admissions, discharge of 31% of patients and is a useful source of consultation for GPs.