Navy strategy: Situational Briefs bolster teamwork.(Clinical Rounds)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Some hospitals are using a communication strategy borrowed from the U.S. Navy to promote efficient transfer of key information between nurses and doctors, Dr. Paul Preston said at a meeting on antepartum and intrapartum management sponsored by the University of California, San Francisco.

When nurses call a doctor about a patient, they are asked to provide information using the four components of the SBAR Situational Brief:

* Situation.

* Background.

* Assessment.

* Recommendation.

The SBAR format provides answers to the three main questions on busy doctors' minds when they get called about a patient: What is it? What do you need me to do? When do I have to get to it?