ArticlePostgraduate medical journal2007
Effect of an acute medical admission unit on key quality indicators assessed by funnel plots.
Article in Postgraduate medical journal, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 37 citations in OpenAlex.
- Optimizing efficiency in the acute care chain: a systematic review on the implementation and impact of interdisciplinary short-term monitoring in acute care units.Internal and emergency medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Pharmacist provided medicines reconciliation within 24 hours of admission and on discharge: a randomised controlled pilot study.BMJ open · 2017Trial
- Baseline Characteristics, Case Mix, and Outcomes of Patients Admitted to a Busy Urban Acute Medical Unit in Ireland.Cureus · 2025Article
- Shortening emergency department length of stay: Fast track, short-stay unit and acute medical unit.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Review
- The First Observational Study of Acute Medical Unit in Qatar.Avicenna journal of medicine · 2024Article
- Impact of hospitalist care model on patient outcomes in acute medical unit: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Improved mortality outcomes over time for weekend emergency medical admissions.Irish journal of medical science · 2018Article
- An Acute Medical Unit in a Korean Tertiary Care Hospital Reduces the Length of Stay and Waiting Time in the Emergency Department.Journal of Korean medical science · 2017Article
- The evidence for acute internal medicine and acute medical units.Future hospital journal · 2016Article
- Factors influencing hospital readmission rates after acute medical treatment.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2009Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo determine the effect of the introduction of an acute medical admissions unit (AMAU) on key quality efficiency and outcome indicator comparisons between medical teams as assessed by funnel plots.
methodsA retrospective analysis was performed of data relating to emergency medical patients admitted to St James' Hospital, Dublin between 1 January 2002 and 31 December 2004, using data on discharges from hospital recorded in the hospital in-patient enquiry system. The base year was 2002 during which patients were admitted to a variety of wards under the care of a named consultant physician. In 2003, two centrally located wards were reconfigured to function as an AMAU, and all emergency patients were admitted directly to this unit. The quality indicators examined between teams were length of stay (LOS) <30 days, LOS >30 days, and readmission rates.
resultsThe impact of the AMAU reduced overall hospital LOS from 7 days in 2002 to 5 days in 2003/04 (p<0.0001). There was no change in readmission rates between teams over the 3 year period, with all teams displaying expected variability within control (95%) limits. Overall, the performance in LOS, both short term and long term, was significantly improved (p<0.0001), and was less varied between medical teams between 2002 and 2003/04.
conclusionsIntroduction of the AMAU improved performance among medical teams in LOS, both short term and long term, with no change in readmissions. Funnel plots are a powerful graphical technique for presenting quality performance indicator variation between teams over time.
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