8.2. Handover Items of SBAR
Handover contents among nursing students were analyzed in reference to SBAR
items. As a result, it turned out that more than 90% of the students delivered the
information of patients’ imminent problems in the area of situation. 88.9% included an
introduction of oneself and 66.7% of the information of the patient name, department,
and doctor respectively. More than 70% of the students included the area of background
in their handovers. In particular, treatment aspects were more frequently included than
diagnoses or medical histories. More than 90% included in their handovers patients’
symptoms and assessments in the area of assessment as well as the current treatment
methods while 40.7% omitted the aspects of vital signs. The recordings reveal that while
students felt less difficult in delivering basic information of patients’ vital signs such as
blood pressure, pulses, breathing, and body temperature, they hardly informed the shift
workers of such figures, normal or abnormal. This indicates that students would deliver
information of disease symptoms but not changes in vital signs probably because they fail
to interpret accurate vital signs properly or are ignorant of how such signs could change
depending on the severity of the disease or symptoms. As the area of advice covered thedirection of future treatment and aspects that should be considered after patient
assessment or by the shift worker, the frequency was the lowest among all the areas of
investigation. In fact, many of these aspects were found by students to be the most
difficult to deliver in handovers. In clinical practice, most nursing students would observe
or listen to existing nurses taking over the work, make a presentation of the patient’s case
during the practical training course, or report the patient’s current problems and
symptoms in an education course. Aspects of mediation and assessment were handled
mostly by students themselves, or the current practice or future plans of the existing nurse
in charge were shared rather than delivering assessment results. Besides, nursing
diagnoses or activities did not correspond to a certain patient’s situation but are merely on
the assumption of ordinary situations. Thus, delivering advice, etc. seems to be a major
challenge in handovers.