title: An environmental scan of medical assessment units in Canada.
abstract: Many initiatives have been proposed to improve emergency department (ED) overcrowding. One such strategy has been to implement medical assessment units (MAUs). This study reports on an environmental scan of MAU distribution and characteristics across Canada. A telephone survey was administered to administrative and clinical leaders at acute-care hospitals in Canada. The survey was designed in two sections: (1) description of hospital and ED characteristics; and (2) description of any existing MAU-like units associated with the hospital's ED structure and processes. Our survey reveals that MAU-like initiatives exist in several Canadian hospitals but are heterogeneous in structure and functionality.
authors.affiliation: PhD candidate in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yergens
authors.affiliation: PhD candidate in the Priority Research Center for Health Behavior at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fradgley
authors.affiliation: Community general internist at the Terry Fox Medical Clinic in Mississauga, Ontario.
authors.forename: Ranjani
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aiyar
authors.affiliation: Clinician scientist and emergency physician at the University of Calgary. He sits as academic and clinical department head for Emergency Medicine at the Cumming School of Medicine and for the Calgary Zone, Alberta Health Services.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Alberta, and the scientific director of the Emergency Strategic Clinical Network for Alberta Health Services.
authors.forename: Brian H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Rowe
authors.affiliation: Director of the O'Brien Institute for Public Health at the University of Calgary. He is also a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Community Health Sciences.
authors.forename: William A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Ghali
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003625:Data Collection; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires