Development and Evaluation of an SBAR-based Fall Simulation Program for Nursing Students

The purpose of this study was to develop an Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation (SBAR) fall simulation program for Korean nursing students and to evaluate its effectiveness.

This study used a single-blind randomized control pretest-posttest design. The 54 nursing students in their third semester at a college in Korea were selected through convenience sampling (SBAR group 26, handoff group 28). The SBAR-based program was provided to the experimental group, while the general handoff-based program was given to the control group. The program was designed for a total of three sessions each and no more than 120 minutes each. Measurement variables included the knowledge, skill, attitude, communication ability, and its clarity related to falls. The data were analyzed with x² test, t test, and repeated measures of ANOVA using the SPSS 18.0 program.

The SBAR group showed the improved fall-related skill and communication clarity compared with the handoff group. There was a significant difference in the fall-related knowledge only in a time-dependent manner before and after intervention, while there was no statistically significant difference in the attitude and communication ability related to falls.

SBAR-based simulation program revealed positive results in terms of patient safety of nursing college students compared with the general handoff-based method. Therefore, the SBAR-based simulation program is expected to be used as an educational intervention for nursing students not only to improve abilities in reporting and communication but to prevent or handle patient safety accidents efficiently.