Medical Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC)
Medical SDEC is located on the ground floor, between the Emergency Department and the Acute Medical Unit.
SDEC offers inpatient care to patients who are likely to go home on the same day as attendance. Patients are pulled from the medical take to the unit throughout the day. We also see provide an ascitic drain service and a DVT clinic.
We have access to a wide variety of diagnostics, including blood tests, x-rays, ultrasounds and CTs. Patients can be given almost all the intravenous medications we offer on AMU.
SDEC is a great training environment to see a wide variety of acute patients under supervision.
A Day on Medical SDEC
08:00
Morning Pull
The morning SDEC consultant will pull patients from the night take to Medical SDEC, who they feel we may be able to turn around in 12 hours. As a resident, you may round these patients with the consultant, or you may be asked to start reviewing new patients yourself.
09:00
Residents Arrive
If you are working here as an SHO, this is usually when your shift starts. You'll arrive and pick up a patient who is waiting to be seen. This may be a patient who has been in ED all night or someone who has just arrived. You will work them up before discussing them with the registrar or consultant.
10:30
Morning Board Round
The first of our board rounds is an opportunity to assess how many patients we have in the unit, how many we're expecting and what our staffing looks like. You will discuss the patients you're looking after to help identify who can go home and who may require admission.
14:30
Afternoon Board Round
You'll continue seeing patients and discussing them with a senior clinician until the afternoon board round at 14:30. You will again be expected to discuss the patients you've been seeing. The consultant may choose to bring more patients across from the take if we have capacity.
18:00
Evening Board Round
Many staff will finish their shifts in the late afternoon. The evening sum-up board round is an opportunity to understand which patients are still in the department and what needs to happen to facilitate the unit closing on time.
20:00
End of the Day
If you are rostered to work the late shift, you will help wrap up any outstanding jobs and ensure that any patients who can go home are discharged. Any patients requiring admission will be post-taken by the consultant. The unit is usually empty and ready for close at 20:00.
What do I do on SDEC?
When you're assigned to Medical SDEC, you'll be clerking patients on the unit and then discussing those patients with a senior decision-maker (a consultant or registrar). Most of your patients will go home, but some will require admission, in which case you will post-take them with the consultant.
There is a free flow of staff between SDEC and the medical take. Sometimes you will be expected to move between the two.