‘State of the Nation’ – The Society for Acute Medicine’s Benchmarking Audit 2013 (SAMBA ’13)

Abstract

Background: Benchmarking is important to improve quality of care. Aim: To audit the performance of Acute Medical Units (AMUs) against the clinical quality indicators published by the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM). Methods: 24-hour data collection on the 20th of June 2013 with follow-up data at 72 hours. Results: 43 units submitted data on 1425 patients. 76% of patients had early warning scores recorded within 30 minutes of admission, 95% of patients had been seen by a competent decision maker within four hours. 79% of patients were seen by a consultant physicians within the appropriate period of time. Conclusion: The difference in compliance with quality standards between UK units opens opportunities for learning. The reasons why some units perform better than others require further investigation.

Nurse staffing levels within acute care: results of a national day of care survey

“…Patients with features of frailty were anticipated to require complex admission assessment and discharge planning. The prevalence of frailty was approximated at 50% based on previous evidence [ 18 , 22 ]. The frequency of physiological observations was based on the distribution of NEWS2 values obtained on admission, combined with national guidance on the frequency of observation [ 31 ].…”

“…The Society for Acute Medicine Benchmarking Audit (SAMBA) has run annually since 2012, and by convention takes place on the penultimate Thursday in June [ 18 ]. SAMBA records patient level data from individual clinical records to assess performance across a range of pre-specified criteria related to acute medical care.…”

The impact of frailty and geriatric syndromes on metrics of acute care performance: results of a national day of care survey

“…SAMBA uses clinical quality indicators based on process outcomes to measure acute care performance at the national level. 15 We aimed to establish whether frailty was associated with differences in clinical quality indicators measured during the first 24-h of emergency medical admission.…”