QSEN Staff Education Simulation: A Case Study

QSEN Staff Education Simulation

This paper will explore the SBAR form of communication as a competency of the QSEN (Quality and Safety Education for Nurses). SBAR represents Situation: A statement of what is happening right now that needs attention; Background: Information that puts the situation into context and explains the circumstances that have led to the situation; Assessment: Conveys the communicators’ thoughts about the problem; and the Recommendation: What should be done to correct the problem, when and by whom (Sherwood & Zomordi, 2014). The QSEN is led by a national advisory board that pursues strategies to assure future graduates develop the necessary competencies in patient centered care, teamwork & collaboration, evidence based

Unfortunately, the exchange of incomplete and inaccurate patient information via handoff can result in poor patient outcomes. Handoffs occur at two points in the delivery of nursing care: nurse transitions in care and patient transitions in care. Nurse transitions in care encompass the transfer of information about a patient’s state between nurses at the time of inter-shift report. Patient transition in care is defined as the exchange of information about a patient’s state as a patient moves from provider to provider or location to location. Regardless of patient or nurse transitions in care, communication of patient status during a handoff is a critical link in the chain of continuity of care (Keat,

In this way, the students are afforded the opportunity to practice this useful skill prior to the clinical setting. First, the students will watch a video on poor communication techniques and a video in which nursing uses the SBAR technique to communicate with another team member. Next, the class will be partnered and each team will be given the four case studies to begin the role playing exercise of a patient handoff during shift change. During this exercise, one student will be the SBAR communicator and the other will be the receiver. Additionally, each team member will be afforded the time to critique their partner’s and their own SBAR technique. At the end of the simulation, the students will again watch SBAR videos to close the loop of learning. After completion of this simulation, students will be asked to write a reflection paper regarding their comfortability of using this tool and future use of the SBAR communication tool in their own practice in addition to a brief peer evaluation form (Kostoff, Burkhardt, Winter, & Shrader, 2016). The overall goal of this assignment is to ensure the students witness examples of poor SBAR and good SBAR and that the students are granted sufficient time to practice the skill to solidify the