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Some basic things to keep in mind are to be confident, be informed, be organized, be specific and be clear.
When it comes to patient care, you as the nurse are the most informed on that patients current and immediate status. You are there with the patient and that makes you the expert on that patient and what is happening so be confident in what you have assessed and what your concerns are. If you aren’t sure - talk to your nursing team, your charge nurse, shift leader and get their support and advice to help build your confidence.
Be informed- once you’ve decided you need to speak to a provider about a patient- take some time to inform yourself- know the patient’s history, medications, vital signs, recent assessment findings)
Be organized- have a plan for what you want to say when you call. Jot down a few notes so you can stay on target and don’t forget important things.
Be specific- if you are wanting a prescription for a specific med, if you are wanting them to come to see the patient, be specific in what your concerns are and what you are looking for them to do.
Be clear- this goes both ways. You need to be clear but so do they. If they say- ‘I’ll be there to see the patient shortly”, It’s okay to follow up on this and ask for a specific time they will be coming to see the patient.
SBAR is probably the most commonly used tool for communicating with providers. SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation. For the situation, you want to say who you are, where you are calling from and what patient you are calling about. Then give a very brief explanation of why you are calling. For Background- tell a little about the patient’s past medical history as well as what they are admitted for. For assessment- tell them what your assessment findings are. Make sure that the assessment findings you provide are relevant to why are you are calling. If you are calling to get pain medicine for a patient they don’t care if they have some edema in their feet. Keep it all relevant to the specific problem at hand. For recommendation tell what you are looking for- a prescription, for them to see the patient? Again be specific, be clear.
Another tool that is very important to use is closed loop communication- this would be used in emergency situations and procedures as well. All it means is that if a provider gives an order you repeat the order back to the provider for confirmation and the provider confirms if it is correct. In an emergency or procedural situations another step to this process might be that you verbalize when the task is complete - “5 mg Lorazepam given IV” Okay, let’s take a few seconds to recap. Communicating with providers is an essential part of nursing practice. It can be intimidating but remember to be confident and make a plan. SBAR is the most common structure to use for communication. It stands for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation. Your priority nursing concepts when communicating with a provider are communication, professionalism, teamwork, and collaboration.
Remember to be clear with all communication- closed loop communication is essential for making sure orders and instructions are accurate.
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