Influence of Nursing Leadership and Communication on Handoff Report/SBAR

This article discusses the importance of effective communication and nursing leadership in handoff report/SBAR in healthcare. It highlights the significance of clear and concise communication in improving patient outcomes and preventing medication errors.

Part 1
Section A
1. SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation.
2. Communication breakdown is highly responsible for the medication error which
affects the safety of the patient. The purpose of SBAR Tool is to improve the
communication between healthcare professionals. It is effective enough in
enhancing the experience of the patient and clinicians. The main task of SBAR
tool is to alleviate the communication problem between health professionals and
improve the patient outcome (Ting, Peng, Lin & Hsiao, 2017).
3. SBAR is one of the effective life-saving communication tool used in clinical
purpose by the healthcare professionals in improving the communication. It is
mandatory during a patient hand-off where the care of any patient is transferred
between shift members. With the help of SBAR nurses of a different shift can also
answer the questions asked by the physicians regarding the health condition of any
patient. SBAR tool is also used when it is necessary to call an emergency team
(Ting, Peng, Lin & Hsiao, 2017).
Section B
Normal Major Issues Missing information Nursing intervention
Pulse oximetry is
normal
Vomited greenish
fluid.
Background
information is
missing.
Nurse will monitor
and will keep a clear
documentation of it
including the number
of time vomited and
the colour of the fluid

coming out
(Manworren et al.,
2016).
Surgical dressing is
clean and dry
Blood Pressure-
110/78, which is
lower than normal
range and a slight
high temperature.
Medicines used in
pre-operative period.
Nurse will monitor
the temperature and
will provide IV fluid
when necessary
(Manworren et al.,
2016).
Declined dinner Nurse should support
the patient to have
dinner and will
explain its need.
Restless and pulling
her surgical dressing
Nurse will assess the
pain rating and will
document the
condition of the skin.
Nurse will also
monitor the hand
hygiene. To control
the restlessness,
nurse will instruct the
use of relaxation
technique such as
focused breathing

(Manworren et al.,
2016).
Patient requires clear
liquid diet and
assistance in
ambulation
Nurse should
determine the
nutritional status of
her diet and will also
assist in her activities
such as going to
washroom, moving
in bed, etc.
Part 2
Influence of nursing leadership and communication on the Handoff
Report/SBAR
Patients’ safety is crucial in healthcare. Failure in communication is responsible in
causing error in medication which affects the health and safety of the patients.
Communication failure, such as inadequate information, vague and imprecise data or
information creates adverse effect on the care given by the professionals. In order to provide
a quality care to the patients, an effective communication among the healthcare professionals
is highly necessary. Particularly, when nurses exchange patients’ information, while working
in shift, a clear and good communication is always important (Shank, 2018).
A collaborative communication and effective teamwork is one of the essential
elements required in the patient care. It improves the health outcome of the patient.

Communication is a process through which information is exchanged among the healthcare
professionals. A clear, concise, complete as well as timely communication is considered as
the effective communication and it helps in transferring clear information. Failure in
communication may occur at any level of the healthcare system and can lead to error in
studies.
Patients’ handoff is one of the necessary components in clinical care. Accurate
communication of information about the health condition of any particular patient is
transferred from one health worker to another, with the use of patients’ handoffs or SBAR. It
contains all of the information regarding the current situation, background information,
assessment as well as recommendation for the patient. Keeping a look on the handoff, a
health professional can easily understand the condition of the patient and then intervene
according to that. One of the critical as well as predictable communication events is patient
handoff. During the transition of care across the other healthcare professionals associated
with the treatment of any particular patient, the SBAR or handoff is quite helpful. A proper
handoff should keep an opportunity to ask questions, clarify as well as confirm the
information which is being transmitted (Wheeler, Kim, MSN, RN, CNOR, 2014). While
guiding the handoff process, following methods should be included.
 Limited interruptions
 A process of verification
 Opportunity to review background data and information
 Interactive communications
All the important aspects of the patients’ condition should be accurately
transferred, communicated and acknowledged across the carers so that an effective and safe
treatment can be provided and thus handoffs are created addressing all these aspects. If the

communication and leadership is clear, then the handoff becomes more effective which in
turn, promotes a high quality medical care. Handoffs may be produced by hand or
electronically but, written components of handoffs are more preferred when it is prepared
electronically as it eliminates the illegibility.
Handoffs or SBARs are fundamental elements in the clinical care. During the
preparation of an appropriate handoff, clinical information of the patients’ is collected and it
must be accurate before transferring to other healthcare professionals otherwise, it can cause
massive error in the treatment procedure. Therefore, a strong leadership quality is highly
essential in preparing the handoffs or SBARs. Communication method must be clear as well
as compact and it should always present accurate information regarding the health condition
of the patient in an understandable way.

References
Manworren, R. C., McElligott, C. D., Deraska, P. V., Santanelli, J., Blair, S., Ruscher, K.
A., ... & Campbell, B. (2016). Efficacy of analgesic treatments to manage children's
postoperative pain after laparoscopic appendectomy: retrospective medical record
review. AORN journal, 103(3), 317-e1.
Shank, H. M. (2018). Evaluating the Effects and Process of Nurse Bedside Shift Report on
Nurse’s Perceptions of Communication Patterns, Nurse Satisfaction, and Patient
Involvement. Retrieved from
https://www.nursingrepository.org/bitstream/handle/10755/624003/ShankFinalDefens
e12_20_2016.pdf;jsessionid=287A87C0FBA4D644F26E548FFFB4A101?
sequence=6
Ting, W. H., Peng, F. S., Lin, H. H., & Hsiao, S. M. (2017). The impact of situation-
background-assessment-recommendation (SBAR) on safety attitudes in the obstetrics
department. Taiwanese Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 56(2), 171-174.
Wheeler, Kim K., MSN, RN, CNOR. (2014). Effective handoff communication. OR Nurse
2015, 8(1), 22-26.