The fourth in the series of acute care toolkits from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) has been produced in collaboration with the Society for Acute Medicine (SAM). The toolkit focuses on changes to the organisation of care, working practices and medical rotas to ensure a consultant physician is available to review acutely ill patients on the acute medical unit (AMU) 12 hours a day, seven days a week.
The toolkit provides practical guidance to senior hospital managers and clinical staff on how to organise acute medical services to ensure that the 12 hour consultant presence delivers consistent high quality care to acutely ill patients.
The guidance includes answers to key questions including:
- How many consultants are required to provide a daily 12-hour presnce on the AMU?
- How many patients should a consultants be expected to review during their shift on the AMU & how long should this shift be?
- How should consultant working & support service be organised in order to provide high quality patient care every day of the week?