POSITIVE PATIENT OUTCOMES: A CHALLENGE FOR THE CONTEMPORARY NURSING PROFESSIONAL.
Introduction:
Despite technological and medical advances today, chronic disease and resultant co-morbidities are prevalent in the Australian Healthcare System. As a result, patients, especially in the acute care setting, have more complex care needs. The management and care of patients with these complex care needs present a challenge for the contemporary nursing professional. Positive patient outcomes will be dependent on a number of factors, such as the assessment of the patient’s condition, the identification of potential risks for the patient, the planning of appropriate care and the management of the subsequent interventions that may be required.
According to Woodhall et al. (2008, p.314) “nurses and physicians are trained to communicate in very different ways”. The lack of effective communication between clinicians led to the development of a technique to promote accurate and timely communication that is structured and standardises communication for patient safety. The Tool SBAR (Situation - Background - Assessment - Recommendation) was introduced by Michael Leonard M.D. as a “shared mental model for the patient’s clinical condition” (Haig et al., 2006, p.168). SBAR has facilitated a structured and standardised approach for effective and timely communication that is critical, especially for patients at risk in the acute care setting. This tool is widely accepted and used today to reduce the possibility of an adverse event occurring because of miscommunication between clinicians. The importance of effective and timely communication with the multidisciplinary team will be expanded in the following reflection of the case study provided.

Nursing Actions and Interventions: A Reflection From the provided case study it is clear that there is evidence of early warning signs and the documented initial nursing assessment mentions other indicators that would alert the Registered Nurse (RN) to a patient who is at risk and who could potentially deteriorate or experience an adverse event. Of note in the case study, Mr Smith does deteriorate and is potentially