staff of Kaiser Permanente adapted this Navy communication tool, producing an SBAR
template designed for use by nurses when contacting a physician with questions
regarding a patient’s care (Curry-Narayan, 2013). Following the initial use between
nurses and physicians, the SBAR template has since been used to guide handoffs between
varying parties, including participants in the nurse-to-nurse shift change report and
interdisciplinary patient reviews.
Under the “S” or situation section, the speaker gives his or her own name and
role, the name and room number of the patient, and the reason for the communication.
The “B” or background section contains any relevant past medical history of the patient,
any treatment measures that have taken place to address the current issue, the admitting
diagnosis, and any past significant assessment data related to the patient. The “A” or
assessment portion includes a description of what is currently happening, recent changes
in the patient’s status, and any new assessment data. Finally, in the “R” or
recommendation section, the speaker lists his or her questions and any specific requests
for tests, consultations, changes in treatments, or transfers (IHI, 2016). In addition to this
basic template, SBAR forms utilized for specific scenarios have also been created. For
example, an SBAR template used to format a call to a physician is designed to
communicate information regarding a specific problem or question. As such, the
assessment portion generally includes only the focused assessment of the problem or
body system in question. In contrast, an SBAR form used to guide the nurse-to-nurse
shift report is designed to give the on-coming nurse a complete clinical picture of thepatient’s health status. Consequently, the assessment in this SBAR exchange includes all
the findings of the most recent comprehensive body system assessment. Refer to Figures