Susan Somerville, RN, President, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, joined staff and physicians to celebrate the first year of accomplishments at the hospital’s Rapid Evaluation and Treatment Unit.
Mount Sinai Beth Israel staff recently gathered to celebrate the first anniversary of the hospital’s Rapid Evaluation and Treatment Unit (RETU), which cares for patients who cannot be safely discharged after their initial evaluation in the Emergency Department. The RETU provides additional testing and short-term treatment so decisions can be made to admit patients, release them safely, and/or arrange for follow-up care—all in an effort to avoid unnecessary hospital inpatient stays. During its first year, Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s RETU cared for more than 5,000 patients. Eighty percent of patients were discharged safely from the unit and did not require hospital admission. The first RETU opened at The Mount Sinai Hospital in 2014. There also are RETUs at Mount Sinai Roosevelt and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s.