From the Guidelines
Acuity levels are categorized as low, medium, or high based on the severity of a patient's medical condition and the corresponding level of care required, with high acuity patients needing immediate and intensive intervention to prevent life-threatening complications, as emphasized by the Society of Critical Care Medicine guidelines 1.
Acuity Levels
The acuity levels are defined as follows:
- Low acuity: minor, non-urgent conditions that require minimal resources and intervention, such as minor cuts, sprains, or cold symptoms, and are generally stable, allowing for safe waiting for care.
- Medium acuity: moderately severe conditions that require prompt attention but are not immediately life-threatening, such as moderate pain, dehydration, or non-critical infections, necessitating more resources and monitoring than low acuity patients.
- High acuity: severe, potentially life-threatening conditions requiring immediate and intensive intervention, such as heart attacks, strokes, severe trauma, or respiratory distress, which often require admission to intensive care units and continuous monitoring, as highlighted in the guidelines for recognizing and responding to clinical deterioration outside the ICU 1.
Importance of Acuity Levels
Acuity levels are crucial for healthcare facilities to allocate resources efficiently, prioritize care, and ensure patients receive the appropriate level of attention based on their clinical needs, especially in emergency departments and hospitals where resources must be allocated according to patient needs, as discussed in the context of surgical prioritization during the COVID-19 pandemic 1.
Key Considerations
When determining acuity levels, healthcare providers must consider the patient's overall clinical condition, the severity of their symptoms, and the potential risks and benefits of delaying or providing immediate care, as emphasized by the European Society for Medical Oncology guidelines, which identify three levels of priority based on the evaluation of the patient's overall clinical condition and the expected benefit provided by the intervention in terms of survival and quality of life 1.
From the Research
Definition of Acuity
- Acuity refers to the individual patient's need for nursing care, which can inform level of care, nurse staffing, and nurse-to-patient assignment 2.
- Patient acuity can be measured and analyzed using nurse-generated data in electronic health records to provide decision support 2.
Factors Influencing Acuity
- Factors such as gender, age, type of unit, and length of stay can have a significant impact on acuity, although the effect may be small 2.
- Collegial relationships with medical staff, intuition, and interpretation of early warning systems like MEWS can also influence nurses' assessment of patient acuity 3.
Levels of Acuity
- Patients can have variable acuity levels, ranging from low to high, depending on their care needs and medical condition 2, 4.
- Low, medium, or high acuity levels can be determined using patient acuity tools, which can support equitable patient assignments and staffing decisions 4.
- High acuity patients may require critical care, while low acuity patients may be ready for discharge 2.
Assessment and Measurement of Acuity
- Nurses play a crucial role in assessing patient acuity and responding to acute deterioration 3.
- The use of early warning systems like MEWS and patient acuity tools can help nurses identify deteriorating patients and make informed decisions about their care 3, 4.
- Frequent, sequential, and real-time measures of acuity can be valuable for tracking patient progress and measuring response to nursing interventions 2.