Objective

This systematic review aimed to identify strategies (including scoring systems and selection criteria) currently used to identify medical admissions suitable for management within SDEC services, and to compare the populations in which they have been derived/validated and their ability to correctly identify suitable patients.

Setting

Adult acute hospital in England.

Design

Systematic searches of the Embase, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases.

Participants

Searches were completed in December 2023.

Methods

The systematic review protocol was prepared using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guideline.

Results

Initial searches identified 8,036 abstracts. After removing duplicates, 7,205 abstracts were screened, with 89 selected for full-text screening.

Conclusions

Scoring systems (the Ambs, GAPS and START) have been suggested to identify patients suitable for management through SDEC services; however, evidence validating performance of these scores outside the setting in which they were derived is limited.