Situation, Background, Assessments, Recommendation (SBAR) (Nursing)

00:01 Alright, so we just talked about working with all of those team members.

00:05 It's a lot of people to communicate with. So how do we communicate with them? So, we're going to use an organized framework to communicate a patient's situation.

00:15 We call it SBAR for short.

00:18 Okay, so first I'm gonna explain these steps, then we're gonna talk through an example.

00:22 So first, let's look at S, situation in the SBAR framework, so first of all, situations saying, "Hey, why are you calling? Who you are? Where you're located? What's going on with the patient?" Such as what's the situation basically.

00:38 Next, let's look at the background. So, what's the background going on? What's going on with that patient? Do they have diabetes? Do they have hypertension? Did they have surgery just a few hours ago? What's the information that we need to relay to the health care provider about the background of this patient.

00:56 So, after our situation, we tell them what's going on, some background information, we're gonna then talk about the assessment details.

01:04 So, this is the nitty-gritty such as my patient's blood pressure is really low; it's this over this. This is information we need to give, so this is the assessment details.

01:14 Maybe labs, blood pressure, heart rate changes, saturation oxygen changes, it could be assessment details such as their levels of consciousness has changed, so these are the assessment details that us as nursing, are going to relay.

01:32 And next, what is our recommendation such as, hey, doctor, I noticed that this patient's blood pressure is very low, what do you think about administrating this, so just know, as a new nurse, and sometimes, it's a seasoned nurse, we don't always have the recommendation for our patient, but know, that we can suggest and have that open dialogue with our physician to figure out the best treatment for them.

01:56 Alright, so now that we've talked about the situation, the background, those assessment details that are important and the recommendation, let's walk through one.

02:07 So, first of all, let's give you the situation as Miss Jones has a blood pressure of 85/46.

02:13 Okay, so I know you may be new to nursing or maybe you're seasoned, but 85/46 is not a good thing.

02:22 We don't like that, so this is a very low blood pressure, so here is the situation that we're communicating to the health care provider.

02:31 Also, it's great for the physician to know, "Hey, the background information is they were admitted two hours ago after a spinal surgery." The reason why this information is important because some of those other pieces of the patient case, can make a difference in the health care provider's decisions on how they treat.

02:50 Alright, next, we've talked about, "Hey, Mrs. Jones, patient's blood pressure is low, they were admitted two hours ago after a spinal surgery and this is the assessment details that I'm seeing, "Hey, she's light-headed." "Hey, the heart rate is tachycardic at a 112 beats per minute, so what am I going to recommend for that? A fluid bolus." So now you can kind of see how that is walked through each piece, so it may sound a little bit like this. "Hey, Dr. Brown, Mrs. Jones has a low blood pressure of 85/46.

03:25 She was admitted to the unit about two hours ago after spinal surgery.

03:29 She says she's a little bit light-headed. Her heart rate is high at 112 beats per minute and you think we should consider a fluid bolus?" So, having communication this way in the SBAR format, you can see it gives you clear information.

03:43 It's concise and it communicates details that the health care provider would need to know.