Patient Safety Fridays: SBAR

When you see nurses reporting to each other when they change shifts, they must be sure to communicate effectively with one another to reduce the chance of medical errors and protect the safety of patients.

• Effective communication is tied to the National Patient Safety Goal to "Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers."

• An effective communication method at NYP is SBAR:

o Situation – Describe what is going on with the patient.
o Background – Describe the clinical background of the patient.
o Assessment – Describes the findings.
o Recommendation – Describe the actions needed to correct a problem.

SBAR is a clinical tool, but take a moment to think about how you can use SBAR as a volunteer when describing your interaction with a patient and documenting your visit in the binder.

What was going on with the patient when you visited them? How did they feel? What was their mood? What did you learn about their background? Was there any problem? How did you address it? Any recommendations to other volunteers?