the SBAR tool promotes a higher culture of safety by creating shared expectations for
reporting among all users, increasing confidence in the efficacy of handoff reports, and
establishing a common trust between healthcare providers. In a quasi-experimental study
utilizing the Hospital Survey of Patient Safety Culture, published by members of AHRQ,
use of the SBAR framework had a positive effect on interdisciplinary team
communication, resulting in improvements in the safety culture of the team (Velji et al.,
2009). In another pre/post SBAR implementation survey study using the same AHRQ
survey, use of the SBAR communication tool improved the safety culture of the
implementing hospital, increasing the percentage of staff who considered patient safety to
be a top priority (Donahue et al., 2011).
Discussion
The benefits of the SBAR communication framework can be divided into two
categories, the benefits that result from the standardization of the handoff report process,
and the benefits that are brought about by characteristics specific to the SBAR tool. The
impact of SBAR on the hierarchical barriers, confidence of the users, length of report
time, and accuracy of exchanged information stem chiefly from the provision of a
standardized process for handoff reporting and could therefore be achieved using a
standardized procedure other than SBAR. However, in addition to the benefits secondary
to standardization, use of the SBAR template also produces several primary advantages
that are derived directly from characteristics unique to SBAR. Specifically, utilization of
the SBAR technique establishes a process for handoff reporting that functions across