Changes in Acute Care: Questions in Need of Answers

Abstract

While the field of acute care is diverse, it can be conceptualized by a number of shared characteristics. Generally speaking, acute care deals with the assessment and treatment of sudden and unexpected illnesses or injuries. These events tend to be life-threatening and accompanied by severe pain. They may be characterized as either discrete or episodic events. Not surprisingly, the primary health objective is to save the patient's life. Consequently the field of acute care has depended on the advanced technologies and clinical expertise of tertiary care settings. Dramatic changes in the health care system underscore the fact that acute care as we have known it is being revolutionized. Two trends in particular have the potential of threatening the health of families and communities; namely, early hospital discharge and reliance on families and local community clinics for the convalescence period. We use the word "potential" because of the paucity of research into their effects on the patient, family, and health care system.