An Acute Medical Unit in a Korean Tertiary Care Hospital Reduces the Length of Stay and Waiting Time in the Emergency Department

A hospitalist-run acute medical unit (AMU) opened at a tertiary care hospital on August 2015 for the first time in Korea. Patients visiting the emergency department (ED) with acute medical problems are admitted to the AMU. They stay in that unit for less than 72 hours and are discharged or transferr...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Ohn, Jung Hun, Kim, Nak-Hyun, Kim, Eun Sun, Baek, Seon Ha, Lim, Yejee, Hur, Jaehyung, Lee, Yun Jong, Kim, Eu Suk, Jang, Hak Chul
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Korean Academy of Medical Sciences 2017
Materias:
Original Article
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5680488/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29115071
http://dx.doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.12.1917
Descripción
Sumario:A hospitalist-run acute medical unit (AMU) opened at a tertiary care hospital on August 2015 for the first time in Korea. Patients visiting the emergency department (ED) with acute medical problems are admitted to the AMU. They stay in that unit for less than 72 hours and are discharged or transferred to specialty wards if longer treatment is necessary. We reviewed 19,450 medical admissions through the ED from January 2014 to September 2016. The median length of stay (LOS) significantly decreased from 10.0 days (interquartile range [IQR], 5.5–16.7) to 9.1 days (IQR, 5.1–15.0) (P < 0.001) after the establishment of the AMU. The median waiting time in the ED significantly shortened by 40% (P < 0.001). Future studies on the impact of AMU on in-patient morbidity, mortality, re-admission rate, and patient or staff satisfaction are necessary.

Ejemplares similares