Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Sep;21(5):e462-e469.
doi: 10.7861/clinmed.2021-0150. Epub 2021 Aug 10.

Acute medical units during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-national exploratory study of impact and responses

John Ty Soong  1 , Audrey LA Wong  2 , Imogen O'Connor  3 , Milka Marinova  4 , Dale Fisher  5 , Derek Bell  4
Affiliations

Acute medical units during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-national exploratory study of impact and responses

John Ty Soong et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic represents one of the greatest ever challenges for healthcare. In the UK and beyond, acute medical units (AMUs) are the first point of assessment and care for the majority of medical inpatients. By their design and systems, they inevitably played an important role in the COVID-19 response but to date little has been published on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected how AMUs have reorganised their resources, processes and structure.

Methods: This retrospective study in August 2020 of 10 AMUs across Europe and Australasia used a standardised questionnaire to investigate existing practice and structure of AMUs, the national context of local hospital experience, changes to practice during the COVID-19 pandemic and views regarding future practice.

Results: Changes to AMU structure, process and organisation are described in two contexts: preventing and controlling the spread of COVID-19 and adding value to the patient's acute care journey in the local context. We describe novel practices that have arisen and highlight areas of concern.

Conclusions: The AMUs were able to adapt to meet the demands of acute care delivery during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Operational planning and prioritisation of resources must be optimised to ensure sustainability of these services for future waves.

Keywords: AMU; COVID-19; processes; response; structures.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Peak months for country and hospitals for COVID-19 pandemic
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Cooksley T. Editorial - COVID-19: Exemplifying the importance and challenges of acute medicine. Acute Med 2020;19:174–5. - PubMed
    1. Reid LEM, Dinesen LC, Jones MC, et al. The effectiveness and variation of acute medical units: a systematic review. Int J Qual Health Care 2016;28:433–46. - PubMed
    1. Conway R, Byrne D, Cournane S, O'Riordan D, Silke B. Fifteen-year outcomes of an acute medical admission unit. Ir J Med Sci 2018;187:1097–105. - PubMed
    1. Scott I, Vaughan L, Bell D. Effectiveness of acute medical units in hospitals: a systematic review. Int J Qual Health Care 2009;21:397–407. - PubMed
    1. St Noble VJ, Davies G, Bell D. Improving continuity of care in an acute medical unit: initial outcomes. QJM 2008;101:529–33. - PubMed