Description
Hospital medicine has undergone considerable
changes over the past decade. One of these changes has
been the appearance of the term acute medicine in the
vocabulary of clinicians and managers working within
the NHS. Since its first mention in a Royal College
of Physicians document in 1996, the development of
acute medicine has been a roller-coaster ride,
culminating in the establishment of subspecialty status
in July 2003. The field now has its own journal, a
specialist society and over 150 consultants across the
UK. So what have been the catalysts for these rapid
and dramatic changes, and what opportunities does the
field of acute medicine offer for general practitioners
with special interests?
