Using an SBAR — Keeping it real! Demonstrating how improving safe care delivery has been incorporated into a top-up degree programme

SummaryUsing a standard communication tool can enhance and provide focus, to ensure that communication is accurately recorded and understood (Marquis and Huston, 2009). The Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR) approach is common place in healthcare situations today (Institute for Health Improvement, 2011), thus justifying the use of this contemporary way of communicating to structure this article. Patient safety, clinical effectiveness and person centred approaches to care, are top priorities in healthcare today. As nursing is in transition to an all degree profession, these dimensions of care should be integral to any “top-up” qualification. This paper discusses how this current clinical agenda was embedded into a top-up degree along with improvement methodology, in order to prepare newly graduated nurses for the world of modern healthcare. The module was developed and delivered in collaboration with clinical practice to maintain credibility and realism for the students. Based on Salmon's model of e-learning (Salmon, 2004), the completely online delivery meant that the students learning occurred whilst clinically based, allowing for theory and practice to interweave in a meaningful way, resulting in actual quality improvement.