To write an SBAR report for nursing school, identify the current concern, select the background that explains it, separate your assessment from information you still need, and finish with a clear recommendation or request. Start by introducing yourself and identifying the person or simulation case you are discussing, using your program's required format.
SBAR means Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation or Request. AHRQ describes it as a structure for sharing a concern with a team. It can be adapted to the conversation; it is not a requirement to recite four identical sentences every time. AHRQ: SBAR communication tool
This guide offers an original worksheet and fictional classroom exercise. Follow your instructor's rubric and the clinical site's communication and escalation procedures. Do not delay urgent help while completing a worksheet.
A simple SBAR template for nursing students
Use these prompts to create a first draft. They are study aids, not a clinical documentation form or a complete assessment checklist.
| Part | Drafting prompt |
|---|---|
| Situation | Who am I, which case am I discussing, and what concern am I raising now? |
| Background | Which earlier facts help explain this particular concern? |
| Assessment | What have I observed or been given, what do I think it means, and what remains uncertain? |
| Recommendation or Request | What specific help, review, or next decision am I asking for? |
The distinction between assessment and guessing matters. AHRQ includes both the communicator's assessment and uncertainty in its SBAR guidance. You can express a concern without pretending to know its cause. AHRQ: using each SBAR step
Before writing, give your page three small headings: provided facts, my interpretation, and missing information. Sort the case details there first. If a detail has no home, ask whether it is relevant or whether you have assumed it.
Keep the current concern separate from the history
Imagine your assignment contains two pages of background but only one sentence about a new concern. It is tempting to start at the top and read everything aloud. For this exercise, underline the sentence that explains why you need to communicate now. Use it to draft your opening.
Then try a relevance check on each background detail: “Would leaving this out change how my listener understands this concern?” Mark the details you would keep, and be ready to explain your choices during debrief. Your instructor may require information beyond your shortlist.
For example, a case's admission reason and an earlier assessment may be useful context. The order in which those details appeared in your packet is not automatically the order in which you should present them. You are organizing the information around a question, not narrating your reading process.
Work through a fictional SBAR example
Classroom setup: You are discussing a written simulation with your instructor. The packet says an adult patient reported no dizziness at 09:00. A new case update at 11:00 says the patient reports dizziness. The packet does not provide a current set of vital signs or a further assessment. No real patient is involved.
Your task is to communicate what the packet says and ask for help identifying the missing assessment information. This is an exercise in report construction, not a model for deciding clinical urgency, diagnosing dizziness, or selecting treatment.
First draft: identify the unsupported leap
“The patient is dizzy, so the blood pressure must be low. Everything else is normal. What should I do?”
Two parts outrun the supplied facts. The packet contains no current blood pressure, and it does not establish that everything else is normal. The request also leaves the listener to work out what help the student needs.
Revised draft: make the evidence and request visible
Situation: “I'm the student presenting simulation case A. The 11:00 update says the patient now reports dizziness.”
Background: “The 09:00 entry says the patient reported no dizziness at that time.”
Assessment: “The reported symptom has changed. I cannot identify the cause from this packet. It does not include current vital signs or a further assessment.”
Request: “Could you review this case with me and help me identify which assessment information is missing before I finish the assignment?”
The revision preserves the timestamps, attributes the symptom to the case update, and removes invented findings. It also gives the instructor a specific teaching request. A real clinical report would require the actual situation, appropriate assessment, supervision, and local procedures; this short packet deliberately omits those decisions.
Say what you do not know precisely
During rehearsal, try replacing vague statements with descriptions of the information you actually have:
- Instead of “The observations are normal,” say, “The packet includes an earlier set of observations; no current values are supplied.”
- Instead of “There are no allergies,” say, “Allergy information is not included in this case.”
- Instead of “I assessed that,” say, “That finding appears in the written scenario,” if you did not perform the assessment.
“Not supplied,” “not assessed by me,” and “assessed and absent” describe different situations. Do not exchange them to make a practice report sound complete. In your notes, circle any sentence you could not trace back to a supplied fact or clearly identified interpretation.
Finish the request, then confirm the response
A clear request makes the next exchange easier to follow. For a classroom exercise, it might be a request to review a finding, clarify a missing case detail, or evaluate your organization. Do not invent a treatment recommendation simply to fill the R box.
After someone responds, practice a check-back. AHRQ describes a closed loop in which the receiver confirms the message and the original sender verifies that it was understood correctly. AHRQ: check-back
Here is an original classroom example:
Instructor: “List the missing assessment information, then bring your revised report to our debrief.”
Student: “I'll list what is missing and bring the revised report to the debrief.”
Instructor: “Correct.”
This practice exchange contains no medication order or patient-care instruction. Its purpose is to make the agreed assignment visible to both people.
Review your report in two passes
For the first pass, check accuracy. Highlight every finding and timestamp, then locate its source in the fictional case. Remove unsupported additions. Keep uncertainty visible.
For the second pass, check communication. Ask a partner to answer three questions after hearing your report once:
- What concern did I raise?
- What do I know, and what information is missing?
- What exactly did I ask you to do?
If the partner cannot answer one, revise that part and repeat the exercise. This is an original rehearsal method, not a validated scoring tool or proof of clinical readiness. Keep your instructor's feedback as the standard for the assignment.
Use the right communication tool for the task
SBAR can organize a focused concern, but a complete handoff involves transferring information and responsibility and allowing questions. Use the handoff process required by your setting. AHRQ: handoff
For a different communication skill—checking understanding of an explanation—see GoodNurse's teach-back examples for nursing students. To turn a point you repeatedly forget into a small study prompt, see how to make nursing flashcards from lecture notes.
You can also try this prompt in the GoodNurse AI tutor: “Using only the fictional facts below, help me organize an SBAR practice report. Keep missing information explicit, do not add findings or treatment advice, and ask me to write the request myself.” Check the response against your source and instructor's rubric. Use fictional material; do not paste patient records or identifying information.
AI-assistance note: This article was prepared with AI assistance, and its illustrative cover is AI-generated. The examples are fictional study exercises. No human or clinical review is claimed.
