Acute medicine is that part of
internal medicine concerned with the immediate and early specialist management of adult patients with a wide range of medical conditions who present in hospital as
emergencies. It developed in the
United Kingdom in the early 2000s as a dedicated field of medicine, together with the establishment of
acute medical units in numerous hospitals. Acute medicine is distinct from the broader field of
emergency medicine, which is concerned with the management of all people attending the
emergency department.