Development and effectiveness of the stepwise handoff protocol based on the SBAR for long-term care hospital nurses: A nonequivalent control-group pre-posttest design

Purpose: This study aimed to develop and examine the effectiveness of the stepwise handoff protocol based on the situation, background, assessment, recommendation (SBAR) application for long-term-care hospital nurses. Methods: A nonequivalent control group pre-posttest design was used for this study. There were 23 subjects in the experimental group and 23 subjects in the control group. Using SPSS Statistics 21.0, data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, independent t-test, and repeated measure ANOVA. Results: The effectiveness of the stepwise handoff protocol based on the SBAR for long-term-care hospital nurses showed a difference in the communication self-efficacy by group (F=8.81, p=.005), by time (F=11.43, p<.001), the interaction effect of group point and time (F=9.67, p<.001), the communication clarity by group (F=10.05, p=.003), by time (F=5.74, p=.005), interaction effect between group point and time (F=3.37, p=.039), and the quality of handoff by group (F=12.48, p=.001), by time (F=7.03, p=.010), and interaction effect between group point and time (F=4.29, p=.042). Conclusion: The stepwise handoff protocol based on the SBAR is expected to improve the work by systematically implementing the transfer of long-term-care hospital nursing to increase nurses’ job efficiency.