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Have nurse staffing levels within Acute Medical Units improved? A comparison of SAMBA19 and SAMBA22
Abstract
Adequate nurse staffing, vital for safe and effective patient care, has been an area of national concern for many years, predating the pandemic.1,2
The Society for Acute Medicine Benchmarking Audit (SAMBA) 2019 demonstrated a deficit in the number of nursing hours available compared to the hours needed, with 85% of units meeting recommended 1:6 nurse to bed ratios during daytime hours.3
Since then, significant changes have occurred within acute medicine services, including challenges from Covid-19, nursing strikes and increased Emergency Department pressures.
We compared nurse staffing from SAMBA19 (data available for 122 sites with 5028 beds) to SAMBA22 (data for 80 sites with 3247 beds), collected 3 years later.
During the 24-hour evaluation, there was 17,131hrs of registered nursing time available, equating to an average of 5.3 hours per bed, however this decreases to 15,125hrs (4.7 hours per bed) when deducting matrons and non-patient contact band 7s. This compares to 4.4 hours of registered nursing time per bed in 2019.
The available non-registered nursing time was 2.6 hours per bed (8579hrs total), compared to 3.2 hours per bed in SAMBA19.
In SAMBA22, 75% of units met the recommended 1:6 nurse-to-bed ratio during the day; this was not significantly different to the proportion meeting this recommendation in 2019 (p=0.07). Overnight, 59% of units met recommended ratios, compared with 66% in 2019 (p=0.33).
There has not been a significant increase in nurse staffing levels within acute medicine services comparing SAMBA19 and SAMBA22, suggesting that the time deficit previously demonstrated, and the associated impact on patient care, still persists.
More robust means to analyse the nursing workforce staffing levels and skillset necessary to provide high quality care within acute medicine is required. This should be supported by interventions aiming to increase our nursing workforce, to ensure these persistent deficits are addressed.
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Date
2023-10-12
Type
Conference Output
Subject
Nursing, Health Workforce
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Citation
Hegarty, H., Knight, T. and Atkin, C. (2023) 'Have nurse staffing levels within Acute Medical Units improved? A comparison of SAMBA19 and SAMBA22'. The Society for Acute Medicine’s 17th International Conference. Glasgow; 12-13 October.
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Publisher
University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
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Files
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SAM Poster V2.pdf
Adobe PDF, 375.45 KB