Context
The Board of Certification Standards of Professional Practice and the 2020 Curricular Content Standards indicate athletic trainers should establish working relationships with collaborating medical professionals and be able to communicate effectively. In addition, increased emphasis on interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in practice is apparent throughout health care professions and their educational programs. However, integrating both interprofessional communication and IPC within 1 learning opportunity can be difficult.
Objective
To share an educational approach aimed to enhance athletic training students' abilities and confidence in delivering patient information to physician assistant students via the situation, background, assessment, and recommendation (SBAR) technique.
Background
As part of the health care team, athletic trainers need to communicate with various providers while making clinically based decisions. Anecdotally, learners in their final year of health care education are not confident in their ability to make recommendations to other health care professionals. The SBAR communication strategy from the evidence-based framework TeamSTEPPS has become widely adopted in health care disciplines and may help to enhance confidence in communication.
Description
This learning activity enables athletic training students to use a patient case scenario to develop an SBAR for delivery via phone to a physician assistant studies student. This article describes the content, delivery methods, outcomes to date, and connection to the 2020 Curricular Content Standards.
Clinical Advantage(s)
This clinically relevant activity provides a low-stakes, real-life opportunity for students to practice communication skills, including the following: condensing the evaluation process, clinical decision-making skills, and the ability to make recommendations for a plan of care. Active participation in the communication process enhances reasoning skills needed for collaborative clinical decision making and the transfer of care, when applicable.
Conclusion(s)
Developing and implementing an interprofessional SBAR communication experience with 2 health care disciplines is an innovative strategy that bridges the gap between clinical education and actual patient care experiences while addressing curricular content needs.
Promoting Interprofessional Communication through Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR): An Educational Technique