Strengthening Nursing SBAR Communication Compliance to Improve Patient Safety

Background: Medication errors and patient falls are a significant part of patient safety events, it is estimated that more than 50% of patient injuries in healthcare settings are preventable, mainly due to communication errors. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the correlation between nurses' compliance in using SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation) communication and patient safety in hospitals. Methods: A descriptive correlational quantitative study was conducted in a regional public hospital. With total sampling, 257 nurses in the paediatric and adult wards, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) completed a compliance checklist on the implementation of SBAR communication and a summed rating scale regarding patient safety consisting of 20 questions, which were analysed by chi-square statistical test and logistic regression. Results: 257 nurses participated, with a gender distribution of 45.5% male and 54.5% female, and the majority aged 23-33 years (39.3%). Bivariate analysis showed a significant association between SBAR adherence and patient safety, with odds ratios (OR) for each component as follows: Situation (OR 3.230, p<0.001), Background (OR 2.961, p<0.001), Assessment (OR 4.350, p=0.002), and Recommendation (OR 5.018, p=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that adherence to SBAR significantly improved patient safety, with an overall Omnibus value of 0.000 and a variance explained of 75.60%. Conclusion: The findings of this study showed a significant positive association between adherence to the SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) communication framework and better patient safety outcomes among nurses.