The acute physicians unit in scarborough hospital
Kayvan Khadjooi1, Christos Dimopoulos, John Paterson
1Department of Medicine, Scarborough Hospital.
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.
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