Effectiveness of a role-play simulation program involving the sbar technique: A quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Accurate, skilled communication in handover is of high priority in maintaining patients' safety. Nursing students have few chances to practice nurse-to-doctor handover in clinical training, and some have little knowledge of what constitutes effective handover or lack confidence in conveying information.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to develop a role-play simulation program involving the Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation technique for nurse-to-doctor handover; implement the program; and analyze its effects on situation, background, assessment, recommendation communication, communication clarity, handover confidence, and education satisfaction in nursing students.

DESIGN: Non-equivalent control-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental.

PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 62 senior nursing students from two Korean universities.

METHOD: The differences in SBAR communication, communication clarity, handover confidence, and education satisfaction between the control and intervention groups were measured before and after program participation.

RESULTS: The intervention group showed higher Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation communication scores (t=-3.05, p=0.003); communication clarity scores in doctor notification scenarios (t=-5.50, p<0.001); and Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation education satisfaction scores (t=-4.94, p<0.001) relative to those of the control group. There was no significant difference in handover confidence between groups (t=-1.97, p=0.054).

CONCLUSIONS: The role-play simulation program developed in this study could be used to promote communication skills in nurse-to-doctor handover and cultivate communicative competence in nursing students.