Daniel J Beckett

Daniel J Beckett

Affiliations: FRCP MBChB(Hons) BSc(Hons) MSc (corresponding author) Consultant in Acute Medicine, NHS Forth Valley and National Clinical Lead, Whole Systems Patient Flow Programme, Scottish Government

All Journals from Daniel J Beckett

An unusual cause of fitting in a 20 year old girl

Abstract

Native renal artery stenosis resulting in hypertensive encephalopathy is exceptionally rare, with only 3 previous case reports in adults. We report such a case in a previously well 20 year old female.

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Assessment of clinical risk in the out of hours hospital prior to the introduction of Hospital at Night

Abstract

Overnight medical cover in hospital is less than during daylight hours. We aimed to quantify the numbers of patients deteriorating overnight and their clinical outcome. Data was collected in real time on use of the Standardised Early Warning Score (SEWS), ‘time to doctor’, seniority of medical review and clinical outcome.

136 incidents of clinical concern were noted on the general wards with a median response time of 5 minutes for SEWS>4 and 10 minutes if SEWS<4. 159 incidents were recorded in critical care. There was significant inter-speciality variation in median response times and seniority of responding staff, particularly within critical care, which recorded the slowest times across the hospital. This will be reassessed following the establishment of Hospital at Night.

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Variation in Acute Medicine Units: Measuring it, understanding it, and reducing it

Abstract

Although there are national recommendations on the function of Acute Medicine Units (AMUs), there is no single agreed best model of care. Additionally, robust data is not always available to determine whether system changes have resulted in improvement. We designed an Excel file to interface with the hospital patient management system to provide real-time data on a number of metrics including AMU length of stay (AMULOS), mortality and readmissions. This demonstrated that improving consultant continuity of care was associated with a reduction in AMULOS and reduced variation in AMULOS. Additionally, the Excel file provides timely access to consultant and individual patient-level data. These data are clinically owned, and critical for both unit governance and quality improvement work. We would encourage all AMUs to develop a similar dataset to allow standardised comparisons between units, and better understanding of the association between models of care and patient outcomes.

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