Handover between community emergency and emergency room nurses: observational investigation of current critical issues and knowledge of the standardized Situation Background Assessment Recommendation method

Introduction: the passage of a patient's information between healthcare professionals represents a focal point in the care process. Its importance is also underlined by the World Health Organization and the Joint Commission. The amount of information transmitted is of fundamental importance both to guarantee adequate continuity of care and to avoid the onset of errors. In the literature, the tool that is best suited to different care settings is represented by the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation), defined as simple and effective for interdisciplinary communication.

Materials and Method: descriptive-observational study with non-probability snowball sampling. For data collection, an ad hoc questionnaire was created consisting of 18 questions and subsequently administered to nurses belonging to the local emergency through the use of different communication channels that reliably lead back to the subjects of interest. A total of 132 responses were collected.

Results: the variables investigated concern topics such as operational difficulties, the current use of a specific tool, the presence of any interruptions during the handover phase, the possibility of omitting fundamental information during this process. From the analysis of the data obtained it was possible to appreciate various aspects. Operational difficulties emerged during the handover phase, the need for adequate education and training of nursing staff regarding standardized methodologies, in particular the SBAR method, and the need to improve communication between local emergency nurses and emergency room triad workers.

Conclusions: this survey contributed to highlighting the challenges and opportunities in the handover process between local emergency nurses and emergency room triage workers. The conclusions suggest that adequate training and attention to communication can contribute to improving the quality of care provided and guarantee a safer transition of the critically ill patient within the emergency-urgent system, also from a safety point of view. clinical risk management.