The Short Stay Unit (SSU) and Treatment Room (TR) is designated and designed for the short-term treatment, observation, assessment and re-assessment of patients initially triaged and assessed in the Emergency Department (ED).
Rationale:
The Spring Medical Group (SMG) SSU and Treatment Room will be operational in accordance with the Department of Health (DoH) Observation Medicine Guidelines 2009.
It will be manned and monitored by trained registered nurses, under the supervision of the emergency doctor/specialist or family medicine specialist on duty.
It is designed to meet standards in two areas:
- Physical amenity
- Model of care
Operational Policy:
- Physical Amenity: The SMG SSU is a four-bed unit, physically embedded in the hybrid spring medical group complex with ward-like facilities.
- Model of Care: SSU is a form of admitted care and will provide a 12 hour, six–day a week service managed by the SMG hybrid Speciality Team.
- Staffing: The SMG SSU/TR will be staffed by experienced staff with skills in rapid assessment and decision making, accountability for unit processes and regular review of patients. Ideally nursing staff working in the SSU will have current Advanced Life Support Accreditation.
- Patient Cohort: Selected group of ED patients who require extended emergency care with an expected medical facility length of stay of less than 6 hours (the anticipated turn over time will be 2-6 hours).
- Admission to SSU & TR: Approval will be provided by the Senior Medical Officer on duty.
- Exclusions: Patients who require hospital in-patient beds, Psychiatric and Non-Ambulant patients.
- Changes: Should changes occur with the patient’s clinical condition that require further treatment, care is to be escalated to the hospital which is nearby.
- Discharge: Patients will be assessed for discharge, instructions for follow-up care provided with a discharge summary, discharge information and a DoH Emergency fact sheet or SMG SSU fact sheet related to patient’s clinical diagnosis.
- Quality and Risk: Measures will be in place to monitor the quality of care and service delivery in accordance with the DoH Observation Medicine Guidelines and SMG Quality and Clinical Governance Policy and Procedure.