Acute assessment unit

An acute assessment unit, or acute admissions unit, (AAU) is a short-stay department in some hospitals that is sometimes part of the emergency department, although a separate department. The AAU acts as a gateway between a patient's general practitioner, the emergency department, and the wards of the hospital. The AAU helps the emergency department produce a healthy turnaround for patients, helping with the four-hour waiting rule. An AAU 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 defibrilators and resuscitation equipment.

Patients

From the emergency department, patients can be moved to AAU 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 AAU 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 AAU deals with admissions only, patients will never be transferred from a ward to the AAU. 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 AAU include a consultant in general medicine, emergency medicine, 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 AAU has its own staff trained to deal with patients and provide care, members of staff from other departments in the hospital are needed in AAU to assess patients and provide further diagnosis. Typical examples of staff who may be needed in AAU are general surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons, cardiologists, and a psychiatric liaison nurse.

Alternative names for the department

Different 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)
• Clinical Decision Unit (CDU)
• Emergency Assessment Unit (EAU)
• Emergency Medical Assessment/Admissions Unit (EMAU)
• Medical Assessment and planning unit (MAPU) or, informally, MAP unit - in Australia and New Zealand^[1]
• Medical Assessment Unit (MAU)
• Multi speciality Assessment Area (MSAA)
• Medical Receiving Unit (MRU) ^[2]
• Emergency Receiving Unit (ERU)^[3]

See also

• Emergency department
• Emergency medicine
• Hospital

References

1. ^ [1] Medical Assessment and Planning Units in Public and Private Hospitals
2. ^ [2] NHS Education for Scotland Glasgow Royal Infirmary information
3. ^ [3] NHS Education for Scotland Monklands District General Hospital information