Acute medical units reduce deaths and stay in hospital, studies show

Care in an acute medical unit—a hospital unit specially designed and staffed for patients with acute medical illnesses—reduces in-hospital mortality and length of stay among people with acute medical conditions, new research indicates.

In 2007, overall mortality in people admitted to an acute medical unit at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London, was 1.1% (28 deaths in 2221 patients). In 2005, before the unit was developed, mortality in patients at the hospital with acute medical illnesses was 1.6% (34 deaths in 2096 patients). The average length of stay was 8.8 days before the unit was developed and 6.9 days afterwards, say audit results reported at the international conference of the Society …