Nursing in Acute Medicine
Acute Medicine nurses care for adults who become suddenly unwell with medical illness, combining rapid assessment, clinical judgement and coordinated care during some of the most important first hours and days of a patient's hospital journey.
Across Acute Medical Units, Same Day Emergency Care and enhanced care, nurses work at the centre of multidisciplinary teams — recognising deterioration, managing complexity, supporting patients and families, developing services and helping shape the future of the specialty.
Assess & recognise
Rapid assessment, close observation and recognition of changing clinical need in patients who may be acutely unwell or diagnostically uncertain.
Coordinate & deliver
Bringing together treatment, investigation, communication and safe movement through AMU, SDEC and onward care.
Lead & improve
Developing people, improving services, contributing to research and helping Acute Medicine evolve around the needs of patients and teams.
A clearer future for Acute Medicine nursing
SAM's Career & Capability Framework gives Acute Medicine nurses a clearer way to see how specialist practice can develop — from entering the specialty through to advanced, educational, leadership, research and strategic roles.
Acute Medicine Career & Capability Framework for Nursing · Published July 2026
Recognising Acute Medicine nursing as a specialist career
The framework brings together a career pathway with practical capability development, helping nurses, educators and services think about progression through increasing autonomy, leadership and specialist expertise.
Understand how an Acute Medicine nursing career can develop.
Explore the knowledge, skills and development expected in practice.
Give Acute Medicine nursing a clearer shared structure and professional identity.
Career Framework
Capability Framework · Phase 1
Want to understand the career pathway first?
Career & Development brings together the pathway, capability model, real nursing roles and development opportunities across Acute Medicine.
Explore SAM Nursing
Whether you are thinking about where your career could go, looking for the evidence behind Acute Medicine nursing or need something practical for work today, start with the area that matters to you.
Where can my career go?
Career & Development
Explore progression in Acute Medicine nursing, from developing specialist capability through to advanced practice, leadership, education and research roles.
Career pathway · Capability framework · Real nursing role profiles · Education & development · Framework downloads
What is the evidence — and how can I contribute?
Research & Publications
Explore the evidence helping to shape Acute Medicine nursing and discover how nurses can contribute to research, evaluation and national data.
Nursing research · Featured publications · Nurse SAMBA · Framework evidence · Opportunities to get involved
What do I need to help me in practice?
Resources & Support
Find practical resources for clinical practice, capability development, professional growth and support for you and your team.
Clinical resources · Framework tools · Education & revalidation · Wellbeing · Nursing networks & community
Three destinations. One nursing community.
The sections are designed to work together: develop your career, use and contribute to the evidence base, and find the practical resources and support you need throughout your working life in Acute Medicine.
The breadth of Acute Medicine nursing
There is no single Acute Medicine nursing career. Nurses develop expertise in different ways and at different stages — combining clinical practice, leadership, education and research as their roles, interests and responsibilities evolve.
Clinical Practice
Develop specialist expertise in assessing, monitoring and caring for acutely unwell adults, from core Acute Medicine practice through to increasing autonomy and advanced clinical roles.
Leadership
Lead teams, coordinate complex acute services, improve patient flow and influence how Acute Medicine develops locally, regionally and nationally.
Education
Develop others through clinical supervision, bedside teaching, structured education and workforce development — helping capability grow across the whole Acute Medicine team.
Research
Ask questions, evaluate practice and contribute to the evidence that shapes the specialty — through improvement, audit, evaluation, data and formal research.
See what these pathways look like in real roles
Meet Acute Medicine nurses working across clinical practice, advanced practice, education, leadership and academic roles through the real role profiles on our Career & Development page.
Celebrating the wider nursing team
Acute Medicine depends on the contribution of Nursing Support Workers, Healthcare Support Workers and Emergency Care Technicians working alongside registered nurses and the wider multidisciplinary team. Every 23 November, SAM celebrates their skill, compassion and contribution to acute patient care.
Great Acute Medicine nursing depends on recognising every member of the nursing team.
Connect with the SAM Nursing community
Acute Medicine nurses work across different hospitals, services and roles, but many of the opportunities and challenges are shared. SAM provides ways to connect, exchange ideas and contribute to the national development of Acute Medicine nursing.
Please join our Acute Medical Nurse Leadership Group
Connect with nurses leading and developing Acute Medicine services across the UK.
The group provides a direct network for sharing experience, discussing national nursing priorities, learning from other services and contributing to SAM's work on the future of Acute Medicine nursing.
Join from your phone
Scan the QR code with your phone camera to join the Acute Medical Nurse Leadership Group.
SAM Nurse Forum
Join the regular Nursing Forum on Microsoft Teams to hear what is happening across Acute Medicine, discuss current challenges and share learning with nursing colleagues nationally.
Make nursing visible within SAM
Nurses are an essential part of the multidisciplinary Acute Medicine community. Becoming a SAM member helps strengthen nursing representation while connecting you with education, events and opportunities to contribute to the Society.
Connect with the SAM Nursing team
Have an idea, question, project or example of good practice you think the wider Acute Medicine nursing community should hear about?
A stronger national community gives Acute Medicine nursing a stronger voice. Connect, contribute and help shape what comes next.
Nursing shaping Acute Medicine
Acute Medicine nursing is not only about delivering care. Nurses help us understand our services, build the evidence for better practice and turn frontline experience into meaningful improvement.
Through national data, research and quality improvement, nurses can make visible what is happening across Acute Medicine — and help determine what should happen next.
Nurse SAMBA
Making the Acute Medicine nursing workforce visible nationally. SAMBA has included questions about the nursing workforce since 2019, helping build a picture of staffing and workforce across Acute Medicine services.
Research & evidence
Build the evidence for how Acute Medicine nursing should develop. Nursing research can explore workforce, patient experience, clinical practice, education, service delivery and the contribution nurses make across the acute pathway.
Improvement in practice
Turn frontline experience into better care. Nurses see where processes work, where patients encounter friction and where teams repeatedly compensate for problems in the system. That insight is a powerful starting point for improvement.
From frontline experience to national influence
Data tells us what is happening. Research helps us understand why it matters. Improvement helps us test what might work better. Bringing all three together gives Acute Medicine nurses a stronger evidence base and a stronger professional voice.
Every Acute Medicine nurse can contribute — by asking a question, collecting data, testing an idea or sharing what works. Evidence grows from practice.
Latest from SAM Nursing
News, opportunities, developments and stories from the Acute Medicine nursing community.
President's Fully Funded Places: SAMGlasgow conference
Funded conference places are available across the wider Acute Medicine multidisciplinary workforce, including nurses, ACPs and allied health professionals.
Read more
Acute Medicine Career & Capability Framework for Nurses
SAM launches the Career Framework and Phase 1 Capability Framework for Acute Medicine nurses.
Read moreInternational Nurses Day 2026: Get involved
Celebrating Acute Medicine nursing, sharing patient feedback and connecting nurses through the SAM Nurse Forum.
Read moreAcute Medicine nursing has a national voice. Add yours.
SAM Nursing brings together nurses working across Acute Medicine to learn from each other, strengthen the profession and help shape the future of acute care.
Whether you are developing your own practice, leading a service, educating others, asking research questions or improving care on the frontline, your experience matters to the wider Acute Medicine community.
Explore. Connect. Contribute.
The SAM Nursing Hub brings together career development, evidence, practical resources, professional support and the national Acute Medicine nursing community.
