Principles for discharging patients from acute care: A scoping review of policy

Background: acute medicine units (AMUs) are part of acute hospital care, where length of patient stay is short and turnover is high. Expediting patient discharge safely is a major function of AMUs, which need up-to-date bespoke guidance. Aim: to carry out a scoping review of UK discharge policy to critically consider, compare and contrast the relevant discharge policies and guidance that underpin the assessment of acute patient discharge. Objectives: to inform the production of bespoke patient discharge guidance for AMUs. Design and stages: identify the review questions; identify relevant studies; select the studies; chart the data; collate, summarise and report the results. Findings: 28 patient discharge policy guidelines were identified that had no specific guidance for patient discharge from AMUs. New bespoke principles for AMUs were created through a pragmatic interpretation of current relevant policies. Conclusion: there is a gap in specific patient discharge guidance for AMUs. New guidance should contribute in practice to improve patient discharge.