Increasing demands on acute hospital resources, together with a reduction in the number of available beds, has placed a greater emphasis on the need for rapid and effective assessment of patients in order to determine their need for hospital admission. This has led to the widespread emergence of the specialist Medical Assessment Unit (MAU). This timely book provides an up- to-date guide to the assessment and immediate management of patients with acute medical conditions. It presents a structured approach based on common presenting features and focuses on the first twenty four hours of the patient's stay in hospital. In writing this book, the editors have been able to draw on their own clinical experiences as a charge nurse in Accident and Emergency nursing and a sister in acute cardiology and respectively.