ISBAR for clear communication: one hospital's experience spreading the message

Area of Science:

• Healthcare communication strategies
• Patient safety protocols
• Clinical workflow optimization

Background:

• Effective communication among healthcare professionals is crucial for safe patient care.
• Existing communication methods may lack standardization, leading to potential errors.
• Standardized tools can improve clarity and reduce misinterpretations in clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and evaluate the implementation of the ISBAR communication technique.
• To assess the impact of ISBAR on telephone communication within a health service.
• To provide recommendations for adopting similar communication tools in clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Introduction of a standardized ISBAR (Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment, Request) technique for telephone communication.
• Program logic mapping used for project evaluation.
• Qualitative and quantitative data collection on communication practices.

Main Results:

• Successful implementation of the ISBAR communication tool.
• Demonstrated improvement in the standardization of telephone communication.
• Facilitated clearer and more concise information exchange between health professionals.

Conclusions:

• The ISBAR technique is an effective tool for standardizing health professional communication.
• Implementation of ISBAR can enhance patient safety and care effectiveness.
• Health services can benefit from adopting structured communication tools like ISBAR.