An acute medical unit (AMU) is a short-stay department in some

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, Irish,

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n and

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hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

s that may be linked to the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

, but functions as a separate department. The AMU acts as a gateway between a patient's

general practitioner A general practitioner (GP) is a doctor who is a Consultant (medicine), consultant in general practice. GPs have distinct expertise and experience in providing whole person medical care, whilst managing the complexity, uncertainty and risk ass ...

, the emergency department, and the wards of the hospital. The AMU helps the emergency department produce a healthy turnaround for patients, helping with the four-hour waiting rule in the United Kingdom. An AMU is usually made up of several bays and has a small number of side-rooms and treatment rooms. They are fully equipped with emergency medical treatment facilities including

defibrillator Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). Defibrillation delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''count ...

s and

resuscitation Resuscitation is the process of correcting physiological disorders (such as lack of breathing or heartbeat) in an Acute (medicine), acutely ill patient. It is an important part of intensive care medicine, anesthesiology, trauma surgery and emerg ...

equipment.

Patients

From the emergency department, patients can be moved to AMU where they will undergo further tests and stabilisation before they are transferred to the relevant ward or sent home. Also, patients can be admitted straight to AMU from their general practitioner if he or she believes the patient needs hospital treatment. A patient's stay in the unit is limited, usually no more than 48 hours. The AMU deals with admissions only, patients will never be transferred from a ward to the AMU. Surgical procedures are not carried out in the unit either; these are referred on to the relevant theatre such as cardiothoracics and general surgery.

Staff

Senior staff in an AMU typically include a

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in acute medicine, general medicine,

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (or "ER doctors") specialize in providing care for unscheduled and undifferentiated pa ...

, or critical care. Often a registrar in general medicine, and a ward sister or a charge nurse have roles in the unit. A number of staff nurses work alongside the senior staff to provide care to patients in the unit. Although AMU has its own staff trained to deal with patients and provide care, members of staff from other departments in the hospital are needed in AMU to assess patients and provide further diagnosis. Typical examples of staff who may be needed in AMU are general surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, and a psychiatric liaison nurse.

Alternative names for the department

Current

The name "acute medical unit" is recommended by the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

in its 2007 acute medicine report. Despite this, many hospitals use different names for the department. Common names for this department are: *Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) *Acute Admissions Unit (AAU) *Acute Medical Unit (AMU) *Assessment and Diagnostic Unit (ADU) *Children's Acute Assessment Unit (CAA) *Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU) *Emergency Care Unit (ECU) *Medical Assessment and Planning Unit (MAPU) - in Australia and New Zealand

Former names

*Emergency Medical Assessment/Admissions Unit (EMAU) *Medical Assessment Unit (MAU)Frimley Park Hospital: ''Medical assessment unit (MAU)''
Linked 2013-07-20

References