Evaluation of the Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation Handover Tool in Improving Communication and Satisfaction Among Jordanian Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units

BACKGROUND: The SBAR (situation, background, assessment, and recommendation) is a standardized handover tool that has been utilized in health care settings. It has positive impacts on staff communication and patient quality of care. In Jordan, few reports are available about handover tools' impacts. PURPOSE: To evaluate the implementation of the SBAR among nurses in intensive care units (ICUs) in Jordan. METHODS: A pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design was used. A convenience sample of 71 ICU nurses participated. The 43-item ICU physician-nurse questionnaire was used to measure SBAR effectiveness as measured by the following subscales: general relationship and communication, teamwork and leadership, and job satisfaction. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in posttest knowledge scores and in "general relationships and communication" and "satisfaction" scores. There was a significant improvement in both "general relationships and communication" and "satisfaction" posttest scores compared with their pretest scores (t = 16.709, 2.656; P < .001, P < .01) consecutively. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed a strong indicator to encourage the SBAR utilization among nurses in health care settings. The SBAR has a positive impact on enhancing communication between nurses and increasing their job satisfaction. Thus, the utilization of such a standardized tool that maintains and assures good communication relationships shall increase level of satisfaction. Future studies are recommended to provide further evidence on its feasibility and efficacy as compared with traditional handover tools and among different health care contexts.