The current health care landscape and evidence support the establishment of observation units (OUs) for safe and efficient care for observation patients. Careful attention is required in the design of…
The history of observation medicine has paralleled the rise of emergency medicine over the past 50 years to meet the needs of patients, emergency departments, hospitals, and the US health care…
Amal Mattu, MD, FAAEM, FACEP, Consulting Editor In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changin’.” I recall a time earlier in my career when we were…
The current health care landscape and evidence support the establishment of observation units (OUs) for safe and efficient care for observation patients. Careful attention is required in the design of…
ED observation units (EDOUs) are designed for patients who require diagnostics or therapeutics beyond the initial ED visit to determine the need for hospital admission. Best evidence is that this…
Infants and children and the elderly comprise a large and growing (especially the elderly) segment of the US population. The benefits of observation medicine have been documented in these two…
Patients presenting to the emergency department with certain traumatic conditions can be managed in observation units. The evidence base supporting the use of observation units to manage injured patients is…
Infectious conditions such as skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs), Urogenital infections and peritonsillar abscesses frequently require care beyond emergency stabilization and are well-suited for short term care in an…
In adults, respiratory disorders are the second most frequent diagnoses treated in emergency department observation units (EDOUs) and account for the most frequent indication for placement of pediatric patients into…
As a group, neurologic conditions represent a substantial portion of emergency department (ED) visits. Cerebrovascular disease, headache, vertigo and seizures are all common reasons for patients to seek care in…
