Quality metrics for same day emergency care—Consensus of a multi-professional panel of experts using a modified Delphi process

Abstract

Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) services are at the heart of recovery plans for Emergency Care in the National Health Service. There are no validated metrics for the quality of care in SDEC.The Society for Acute Medicine's Quality Improvement Committee invited to a three-stage modified Delphi process to gather metrics used by clinicians. Proposed metrics were ranked and further explored by 33 participating experts from a broad range of backgrounds including clinicians, data scientists and operational managers.Experts ranked five system-based metrics highest. These focus on optimisation of the proportion of patients receiving same day care in and out of SDEC units. Patient and staff experience metrics were ranked low, possibly due to present lack of viable examples.The paper adds a glossary with the rationale for ranking of metrics and their use for the improvement of quality and safety of clinical care.