Abstract:
Background: Teamwork in clinical settings and especially in the emergency department requires
straightforward, clear and consistent communication as well as good collaboration between
health workers. Communication increases teamwork and quality of care and enhances patient
safety. Lack of concise communication between healthcare providers impacts patient care safety,
leads to misdiagnosis increases delays in treatment and medication errors, increases patient
morbidity and mortality. Evidence from the research is also consistently recommending
programs enhancing interprofessional collaboration among healthcare workers.
This research aims to examine the effect of Situation Background, Assessment, and
Recommendation (SBAR) communication education on the competencies of interprofessional
team collaboration among registered nurses working in the emergency department at the
University teaching hospital of Kigali (CHUK).
Methodology: This research used a one-group pre-test/post-test research design. This study was
conducted on thirty registered nurses working in the emergency department at CHUK. SelfAdministered questionnaires were completed prior to and after the training, an evidence-based
communication skills program was conducted on the use of the SBAR communication tool.
Univar ate analysis was used to evaluate the association between communication and some
demographic characteristics whereas paired t-test was used to test whether there is a significant
improvement in communication after the intervention.
Results: Results of this study indicate that there is a statistically significant improvement of the
nurses‟ competencies of inter-professional collaboration after SBAR communication education
(p(T>t) =0.0002).
Conclusion: This study concludes that SBAR communication education for emergency nurses
increases their communication skills and may thus increase the care to patients.
