Creation of an Adult Observation Unit: Improving Outcomes.

A growing segment of patients in hospitals are considered outpatients, classified as observation. These patients neither have the severity of illness nor the intensity of service to qualify as inpatients, yet are not well enough to be discharged. Hospitals have created observation units to address the clinical needs of this growing patient type to provide care in the right setting by managing emergency department throughput and utilizing the most efficient staffing resources.

Outcomes of an Interdisciplinary Transitional Care Quality Improvement Project on Self-Management and Health Care Use in Patients With Heart Failure.

Heart failure (HF) accounts for most U.S. Medicare hospital admissions.