PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Gregor BS McNeill AU - Darshan H Brahmbhatt AU - A Toby Prevost AU - Nicola JB Trepte TI - What is the effect of a consultant presence in an acute medical unit? AID - 10.7861/clinmedicine.9-3-214 DP - 2009 Jun 01 TA - Clinical Medicine PG - 214--218 VI - 9 IP - 3 4099 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/9/3/214.short 4100 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/9/3/214.full SO - Clin Med2009 Jun 01; 9 AB - A cornerstone of the development of acute medicine has been the principle of consultant presence within the acute medical unit (AMU). There is the hypothesis that consultant supervision improves patient care. This view is not currently supported by firm scientific evidence. When Ipswich AMU opened in 2004, there was a consultant presence on some weekdays only. Admission data were collected and assessed with respect to the presence or absence of the consultant. Overall length of stay was significantly lower, by a mean of 1.3 days, when there was a consultant present, and 9% more patients were discharged on the same day of their assessment (95% confidence interval 5.7% to 12.6%, p<0.001) without affecting readmission or mortality. These results suggest the absence of a consultant leads to fewer same-day discharges and causes the inappropriate admission of patients not needing inpatient management. Further study is required to determine whether these findings are shared by other AMUs.