Results on patient flow of implementing an Acute Medical Unit.

BACKGROUND: There is an increased influx of patients needing admission. Introducing an acute medical unit (AMU) may increase the admission capacity without increasing the total number of beds. METHODS: Data collected during the first four years after implementation of an AMU in an academic tertiary care center in Amsterdam were analyzed. RESULTS: A 24 bed unit was realized. The total number of admissions increased in the first year with 977 (16%), with an additional 4.1% increase after 2 years with stabilization thereafter. The length of stay decreased, the absolute number of refusals declined, the number of readmissions remained unchanged. CONCLUSION: Introduction of AMUs in overcrowded services could be beneficial in improving the strain on the acute healthcare systems.

Exploring the value of routinely measured hematology parameters for identification of elderly patients at high risk of death at the Emergency Department.

Of the warning scores in use for recognition of high-risk patients at the Emergency Department (ED), few incorporate laboratory results. Although hematological characteristics have shown prognostic value in small studies, large studies in elderly ED populations are lacking. We studied the association between blood cell and platelet counts and characteristics as well as C-reactive protein (CRP) at ED presentation with mortality in non-multitrauma patients ≥ 65 years. Comparison between survivors and non-survivors showed small, significant differences with AUROCs ranging between 56.6% and 65.2% for 30-day mortality. Combining parameters yielded an evident improvement (AUROC of 70.4%). Efforts should be pursued to study the added value of hematological parameters on top of clinical data when assessing patient risk.

Measurement of generic patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) in an acute admission unit: A feasibility study.

OBJECTIVE: Measuring patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) is a challenge in Acute Admission Units (AAUs), where patients present with a variety of pathologies. Generic PROMs may be used to measure the quality of care in this population. The main objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of measuring generic PROMs in a Dutch AAU. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study Setting: An AAU of a tertiary hospital in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Participants: 123 patients admitted to the AAU during 5 weeks in May and June 2015 METHODS: Patients admitted to the AAU were asked to fill out a questionnaire relating to three time points: 7 days before, during, and within 2 weeks after admission. Additionally, patients were asked to report on their experienced level of safety on the AAU and the contribution of the AAU to their recovery. RESULTS: There were significant trends in generic PROMs for all three domains. Physical functioning decreased during hospital admission and almost fully returned to the previous level after discharge. Satisfaction with social role and anxiety significantly decreased over time. CONCLUSIONS: Measuring generic PROMs in the AAU is feasible. The analysis of the PROMs took little effort and results could be reported back to the healthcare workers on the AAU quickly. Patients appreciated being asked about their own perceived health and the quality of care. Given that this is the first study focusing on PROMs in AAU patients in the Netherlands, future studies with larger sample sizes, and from other nations are needed to further investigate PROMs in this patient group to establish International reference values.