S-BAR

[Otessa]

We used this at my 'old' hospital.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement has a lot of information regarding this as a patient safety tool.

Wondering if any of you are using this in other settings besides hospitals?

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: SBAR Technique for Communication: A Situational Briefing Model

cheers,

otessa

[steelydanfan]

I think SBAR is a good tool but like others, I always ask "are you familiar with this patient?" If the answer is yes, I skip over anything not immediately relevant to my call. If the answer is no, I use SBAR to make sure I cover everything and also to give my content a bit of structure.

I'm sure we've all gotten report that jumps all over the place and has you wondering what happened when! I know how it makes me feel at the start of a shift and can only imagine how confusing it sounds after being pulled from sleep at 3am.

No "tool" should turn us into robots. We all learned assessment skills in nursing school (if we did'nt, we should not have graduated). You ARE able to think on your feet, and the SBAR is simply a TOOL, not the God-given mandate for report, calls or anything else. The more we are "encouraged' to rely on someone else's idea of how to frame our critical thinking, the more we give over control of our practice. SBAR is a GUIDELINE, not an absolute!

[pers]

No "tool" should turn us into robots. We all learned assessment skills in nursing school (if we did'nt, we should not have graduated). You ARE able to think on your feet, and the SBAR is simply a TOOL, not the God-given mandate for report, calls or anything else. The more we are "encouraged' to rely on someone else's idea of how to frame our critical thinking, the more we give over control of our practice. SBAR is a GUIDELINE, not an absolute!

I guess my phrasing it as a tool wasn't very clear? Or that I specified an example of when I felt it was and was not appropriate?

As for how essential it is for a person to use, I think that depends more on whatever policy your facility has regarding the issue than what someone on an internet forum has to say. My facility encourages us to use SBAR and I happen to think it's useful and appropriate in many situations. While YOU may be able to think on your feet and have no problems rattling off a perfectly worded report of a situation without such a tool, I disagree that everyone else can do so just as easily. I guess you haven't ever talked with someone who jumps all over the place with report so that you aren't sure if they had the heart cath yesterday and are now having chest pain or were having chest pain yesterday and are now going for a heart cath!

I'm not sure where assessment abilities factor in as SBAR isn't an assessment. It's just an outline for someone to fill in with their assessment of the situation in order to present it in a clear and concise manner. Personally, I'm all for anything that is going to make my job easier and my patients safer! I don't really care who came up with the idea or who supposedly will have more control because of it.

[oryxandcake]

I find it especially helpful for new grads. It is pushed in the BC nursing programs and most hospitals around here..

[steelydanfan]

I guess my phrasing it as a tool wasn't very clear? Or that I specified an example of when I felt it was and was not appropriate?

As for how essential it is for a person to use, I think that depends more on whatever policy your facility has regarding the issue than what someone on an internet forum has to say. My facility encourages us to use SBAR and I happen to think it's useful and appropriate in many situations. While YOU may be able to think on your feet and have no problems rattling off a perfectly worded report of a situation without such a tool, I disagree that everyone else can do so just as easily. I guess you haven't ever talked with someone who jumps all over the place with report so that you aren't sure if they had the heart cath yesterday and are now having chest pain or were having chest pain yesterday and are now going for a heart cath!

I'm not sure where assessment abilities factor in as SBAR isn't an assessment. It's just an outline for someone to fill in with their assessment of the situation in order to present it in a clear and concise manner. Personally, I'm all for anything that is going to make my job easier and my patients safer! I don't really care who came up with the idea or who supposedly will have more control because of it.[/quot

Pers, anytime hospitals mandate usage, that makes it ESSENTIAL. What I object to is the idea that just using a tool can make your practice better. Instead of teaching new grads critical thinking, they are simply handed a form to take and give report, and THAT is what they focus on for 12 hours. I have used the SBAR format in hospitals for 2 years, and believe me, the reports from the floors and ER are as poor as ever. Reports are not an exchange of pertinent facts and observations anymore, it's about filling out the blanks on the SBAR. Nurses cannot seem to explain the pt.s demeaner, but they can sure tell me where thier IV is located. I know what I consider more important! Look, all I am saying is that technology, forms and regulations don't take better care of patients., cause less mistakes or prevent bad outcomes. And I for one am tired of suits trying to foist that idea on me.