Doctor–nurse effective communication: situation background assessment recommendation (SBAR) survey between students of an Italian paediatricnursing degree program

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) declared that communication is the source of 70% of sentinel events that occur in hospitals. Situation Background Assessment Recommendation (SBAR) enables to clarify what information should be communicated between members of the team. JCAHO recommended the use of SBAR to reduce communication failures. Doctor–nurse communication is a complex process where failure can lead to loss of information, inefficiency and poor patient care. Purpose: To improve communication skills in paediatric nursing students using an active didactic methodology, Role Playing and follow up with the Situation Background Assessment Recommendation (SBAR) checklist. Material - Methods: The Situation Background Assessment Recommendation (SBAR) checklist. Students of the Paediatric Nursing Degree Program (N. 24) of the ‘G. Gaslini’ Teaching Hospital of Genoa were divided into two groups and invited to participate in a 2-day meeting. The Role Play video was analysed using the SBAR checklist. In both of the simulations we gathered the information and then compared it with the SBAR items. We tested the students before and after administering the SBAR tool. Results: The SBAR checklist gave rise to many reflections and comments during debriefing with students, who recognized the usefulness of this tool in facilitating a more effective organisation of the communication contents. The results of the discussion were processed and used to redefine the contents of the four constituent elements of the SBAR checklist.