Organisations using SBAR have found the following useful:
■■ Stickers with the tool printed on them;
■■ Pocket cards to remind staff of the process;
■■ Stickers on or next to telephones to act as a visual prompt;
■■ Ensuring people feel it’s okay to prompt each other using your agreed
framework. For example ‘Can I make sure I understand you, what is your
recommendation here?’;
■■ Sticking or attaching your SBAR sticker or note in the patient records as
documentation of the call made – a helpful reference for the responder
and other team members;
■■ Auditing the use of SBAR after a call to the response team and feeding
back the effectiveness and quality;
Finally, disseminate your good practice to other teams by modelling the
communication behaviour you’re aiming for from them. Allow staff to shape the
SBAR hand-over to fit their needs.