Nurse Handover with SBAR method: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Handover is a crucial aspect for patient safety and continuity of care. Many factors can affect the quality of the information transmitted and handover may be ineffective or even harmful if the information is incomplete or omitted. OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of the study was to describe the changes in handover quality after introduction of the Situation, Background, Assestment and Raccomandation (SBAR) method. Secondary objectives were to describe changes in the number of interruptions and changes in communication skills in nursing handover. MATHERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental, monocentric study with pre/post test design was implemented in a sample of convenience. RESULTS: 198 nurses participated in the study and 208 nursing handovers were analyzed. After the introduction of the SBAR method there has been a significant improvement in the quality of handovers, a reduction in the number of interruptions and an increase in communication skills. CONCLUSION: SBAR method demonstrably improves the quality of nursing handovers, reducing the number of interruptions and enhancing communication skills. The introduction of the SBAR delivery method improves the quality and safety of information transmission.

Keywords

• Continuity of patient care
• patient handoff
• communication
• nurse handover