Medical Short Stay Unit (MSSU)

Director: David Paje, MD
Assistant Director: Matt Luzum, MD, MPH

This service provides care to medical patients that require a brief hospital stay, expected to be less than 48 hours. The MSSU has two service locations, the 18-bed Maize Unit adjacent to the Emergency Department and a 22-bed unit located in the hospital. Both locations are closed units with full geographic alignment of primary medical and nursing teams. The medical team consists of physicians and advanced practice providers, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants. They collaborate closely with a dedicated staff of nurses, case managers, social workers, unit clerks, and a clinical assistant. The MSSU team provides much needed advanced patient care to almost 8,000 patients annually in an environment that spans emergency room and inpatient settings.

The MSSU is committed to continue to innovate and to pioneer team-based approaches to deliver safe, high-quality and efficient care to its patients. As a fully functioning accountable care unit (ACU), the MSSU team is the first at Michigan Medicine to conduct daily structured interdisciplinary bedside rounds (SIBR), during which the plan of care is reviewed with every patient, with participation from all members of the healthcare team. This promotes patient-centeredness and allows efficient and effective multidisciplinary team communication.

Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Program

The advanced practice provider (APP) program in the Medical Short Stay Unit (MSSU) in one comprised of both physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs). In collaboration with the onsite MSSU attendings, APPs provide comprehensive evaluation and treatment of adult Internal Medicine patients who are observation or inpatient status. Patient care is provided in two units; MSSU Maize (18 beds) and MSSU Blue (22 beds). In addition, the MSSU APPs partner with the MSSU triaging physician to conduct history and physicals and complete admissions for patients in the Emergency Department accepted for admission to the MSSU. The MSSU physician-APP relationship is based on a teamwork model of shared medical decision making.