You may have already heard about Sbar Nursing Report Template that was introduced by Mr. Phillip Phillips and his team. Sbar is one of the many online resources that he offers to help individuals who want to earn some degree or certificate related to nursing. Sbar provides an opportunity for students and would-be nurses alike to create their resumes, make study guides and various other useful applications. In this article, I will present some of the key findings that were addressed in Mr. Phillips’ review on Sbar. This will provide a background insight into the underlying issues.
According to Mr. Phillips, “the greatest advantage of Sbar is that it enables nurses to easily create the nursing resumes they need without having to do any further research”. Indeed, this is indeed a very attractive proposition indeed and one that I can wholeheartedly support. However, what I observed as I did my own research was that there are some weaknesses that need to be addressed. For example, when looking at the templates provided by Sbar, I discovered that there are no samples or comprehensive explanations as to how to use the different templates. This created a lot of confusion and some problems with the creation of nursing resume as explained by Mr. Phillips.
Another issue I observed is the difficulty of finding reliable references for testimonials on Sbar. The only testimonial that I could find of Sbar comes from one of its vendors, Optiarc. According to them, they provided Sbar with positive reviews. There are also other sources of information regarding Sbar such as the American Health Information Management Association of Independent Clinical Nursing Specialist. Despite these recommendations, I was not able to locate any independent research corroborating the claims made by Mr. Phillips.
I also found that Sbar has limited options for customization. There are only two pre-defined layouts: One for standard sheet style applications and another for centered footnotes. In addition, it only allows for a maximum of seven rows of fonts and three columns. It does not provide options for colorizing cells or for automatically aligning items on the worksheet.
The Nursing Report Template comes with a worksheet template that provides nursing staff with a ready-made template to use whenever they want to produce their own patient reports. There are four worksheets from which nursing staff may choose from. These include a demographics sheet that inform the nursing staff of the number of patients for whom they have seen over a set period of time, their ages, their sex, and their details (e.g., race, height, weight). The fourth worksheet gives the option for the nursing staff to record additional information that is relevant to the patient’s case, including: demographics, clinical details, pathology reports, laboratory information, referral letters, and hospital discharge summaries.
In addition to the demographic characteristics, a typical Sbar report sheet also includes details about each patient such as his or her name, address, personal and health history, and contact information. A patient’s treatment and past medical problems also come into the picture when creating a nursing report. For example, if a nurse examines a patient who is complaining of chest pains and notices that the patient had a history of asthma in the past, the nurse should take that into consideration when reporting the information. Likewise, a nurse might note in the patient’s history that he or she had previously been diagnosed with high blood pressure. As you can see, the key role of the sbar report is to supplement the documentation provided by nurses and doctors in an organized manner.
Following the release of the Sbar Nursing Report Template by the American Psychological Association, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published an “R recommendation.” According to the “R recommendation,” states the DHHS, “The use of electronic medical records (EMR)… provides faster, more accurate, and comprehensive medical care and makes patients feel less overwhelmed.” The DHHS further recommended that states “encourage hospitals to use uniform EMR software so EMRs reflect the characteristics of individual hospitals and medical practices.” On the other hand, a study conducted by the Rand Corporation indicated that nurses were less likely to perceive the benefits of electronic medical records as compared to those in a paper format.
To make things easier for nursing students, the following provides a background insight into the underlying problems associated with electronic medical records. First, we recommend that you contact your state’s medical board and ask them about their position on EMRs. In many states, nurses are not required to upgrade their medical skills in order to obtain a license to practice. Although the State may mandate certain training, it is not mandatory to upgrade your skills. Second, the Sbar’s experience highlights the potential privacy concerns associated with allowing EMRs to be shared across the hospital and whether nurses are able to control who has access to their personal medical information.
