Acute Assessment Unit

An Acute Assessment Unit, or Acute Admissions Unit, (AAU) is a short-stay department in a UK hospital which is sometimes part of the Emergency 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.

taff

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
*Acute Admissions Unit
*Clinical Decision Unit (CDU)
*Medical Assessment Unit (MAU)
*Multi speciality Assessment Area (MSAA)
*Medical Receiving Unit (MRU) [ [http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/sfas/Prog_by_Region/West/hospitals/gri/] NHS Education for Scotland Glasgow Royal Infirmary information]
*Emergency Receiving Unit (ERU) [http://www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/sfas/Prog_by_Region/West/hospitals/monklands/] NHS Education for Scotland Monklands District General Hospital information

ee also

*Emergency Department
*Emergency Medicine
*Hospital