The effectiveness and variation of acute medical units: a systematic review.

Purpose: To evaluate the evidence for the effectiveness of acute medical units (AMUs) compared with other models of care and compare the components of AMU models.

Data Sources: Six electronic databases and grey literature sources searched between 1990 and 2014.

Study Selection: Studies reporting on AMUs as an intervention for unplanned medical presentations to hospital with the inclusion of all outcome measures/study designs/comparators.