Assessment of the effect sbar communication training on interprofessional team collaboration in Rwanda.

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.