what "acuity of admission" means?

Could it refer to the degree of acuity, that is, how severe the condition of the patient was at the time of admission?

acuity [ah-ku´ĭ-te]

  1. Acuteness (see acute [def. 2]); the level of severity of an illness. This is one of the parameters considered in patient classification systems that are designed to serve as guidelines for allocation of nursing staff, to justify staffing decisions, and to aid in long-range projection of staffing and budget.

thefreedictionary medical dictionary


The etymology and meaning of acuity relate to sharpness or acuteness. Although the term is used in connection with quality of vision, hearing, thinking (for examples: acuity of thought = shrewd and thoughtful thinking; acuity of vision is a clinically measurable feature), it is also used to describe the urgency of admission to hospital, as M.G.S. suggests in their answer.

It is easy to imagine examples of different admission acuity. Admissions are urgent in emergency (e.g. heart attack), planned but not urgent (e.g. hip replacement), routine crucial (e.g. dialysis, radiation therapy), routine (e.g. regular checking of a condition).