The team at work - The society for acute medicine's benchmarking audit 2014 (SAMBA-14)

Abstract

Background The Society for Acute Medicine's Benchmarking Audit (SAMBA) serves as a tool for Acute Medical Units to compare and improve their quality of care. Aim To audit the performance of Acute Medical Units against clinical quality indicators, standards by the Royal College of Physicians and Specialist Societies relevant to the practice of Acute Medicine. Methods An online survey of unit profiles and staffing levels on the audit day was followed by a 24-hour data collection on Thursday the 19th of June 2014 for all patients seen by the local Acute Medicine teams as part of the general medical take. Patients were followed-up for 72 hours. We reviewed the impact of staffing levels on performance indicators. Results 66 Acute Medical Units admitted 2333 patients during the 24-hour period. Compliance with the quality standards of SAM was as follows: 84% of patients had an early warning score recorded within 30 minutes of admission, 81% of patients had been seen by a competent decision maker within four hours and 73% of patients were seen by a consultant physician within the appropriate period of time. Only 56% of patients received a standard of care compatible with all three quality standards. We found no relation between unit characteristics, staffing and performance indicator. Conclusion There remains a gap between the standard described by the quality indicators and the performance of Acute Medical Units during a one-day audit.