title: "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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Le Jeune
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Masterton-Smith
authors.affiliation: Senior Clinical Lecturer, Bangor University, School of Medical Sciences, Ysbyty Gwynedd, Penrhosgarnedd, LL57 2PW, Bangor.
authors.forename: C P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Subbe
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ward
mesh_terms: D019985:Benchmarking / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003625:Data Collection; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000592:standards; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012955:Societies, Medical; D006113:United Kingdom