SBAR example: how to give a nursing handoff report
Updated October 3, 2026 by Kamal Nasir
SBAR stands for Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation. It is a fixed order for telling another clinician what is happening with a patient, what led up to it, what you think is going on and what you need from them. Below is what belongs in each part, a filled-in example with an invented patient, and a blank template you can copy.
General information, not medical advice. How these guides are made.
What SBAR stands for and where it comes from
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement describes SBAR as an easy to remember, concrete way of framing any conversation, especially a critical one that needs a clinician's immediate attention and action. It was developed by Michael Leonard, MD, with Doug Bonacum and Suzanne Graham at Kaiser Permanente of Colorado.
AHRQ teaches SBAR as part of TeamSTEPPS and notes that it is useful when a patient's condition is deteriorating quickly, and with people outside the core team, such as remote consultants. Its definitions of the four parts are:
- Situation: who you are, who the patient is (identifiers such as age and gender) and a brief statement of the current problem.
- Background: history related to the problem, signs and symptoms of the presenting complaint, and relevant results such as lab or imaging reports.
- Assessment: what you think the problem is, based on the background and your own observations. Objective data such as vital signs can go here.
- Recommendation, or Request: what you need and by when. AHRQ adds that you repeat back the other person's answer to confirm it.
An SBAR handoff example (invented patient)
This is a nurse to nurse report at shift change. The patient and every detail are made up for illustration, and your unit's own escalation parameters always apply.
- Situation: "This is Sam, day nurse on 4 West, handing off bed 12. He is a 67 year old man, day one after a right hip replacement. His blood pressure has been trending down this afternoon and his urine output is low."
- Background: "He has hypertension and type 2 diabetes. Surgery was yesterday morning. His home lisinopril was held today. This morning's hemoglobin was 9.8 g/dL, down from 12.1 before surgery."
- Assessment: "At 16:00 his blood pressure was 96/58, down from 128/76 this morning, heart rate 104, and he has made 60 mL of urine in four hours. The dressing is dry. He feels lightheaded when he sits up. I am worried about bleeding or low volume."
- Recommendation: "The surgical resident was paged at 16:20 and ordered a repeat hemoglobin, due back around 18:00. Please recheck his vitals at 17:00, keep him on fall precautions and call the resident if his systolic pressure drops below 90. Can you read that back to me?"
A blank SBAR template you can copy
Fill the brackets and keep each line short. The point of the format is that the listener always knows where they are in the report.
- S: I am [name, role, unit]. I am calling about [patient name, age, room]. The problem is [one sentence].
- B: Admitted for [reason] on [date]. Relevant history [ ]. Current treatment [ ]. Recent results [ ].
- A: Vital signs [ ]. What I am seeing [ ]. I think the problem is [ ], or: I am not sure what it is, but I am concerned.
- R: I need [action] by [time]. Please [request]. Read back: [their response].
Tips for a clear SBAR report
- Prepare before you call. Have the chart, current vital signs, medications and recent results in front of you. IHI publishes an SBAR worksheet for organizing this before contacting a physician about a critically ill patient.
- Introduce yourself. AHRQ's advice is plain: do not assume everyone knows who you are.
- Keep the Situation to one or two sentences. Background is where detail goes.
- Say what you think in the Assessment, even when you are unsure. "I don't know what this is, but I am worried" is a valid assessment.
- Make the Recommendation specific, with a time: what you want done, and how soon.
- Adapt it. AHRQ describes SBAR as a menu: the parts you use, and their order, depend on your team's needs.
Typing SBAR reports on a phone
If your facility lets you chart or message from a phone, typing the same four headings every shift adds up. ChartKey, a replacement keyboard for iPhone and iPad, expands .sbar into a full SBAR report with fill-in fields you step through with Next, in any app where you can type. It is a typing tool, not a clinical reference, so what goes into the report is still your clinical judgment.
Questions people ask
Is SBAR only for calling a doctor?
No. IHI describes it as a way to frame any conversation that needs attention and action, and AHRQ notes it can be used to share information about a patient, a team member or any other issue. Nurses use it for shift handoff, for calling a provider and for transfers between units.
What does the R in SBAR stand for?
Recommendation. AHRQ writes it as Recommendation or Request: the specific action you are asking for and when you need it, followed by a read back of the answer.
How long should an SBAR report be?
There is no official length. The structure exists to keep the report short: a one or two sentence Situation, only the Background that bears on the problem, your Assessment and a clear request.