Clinical Communication

🔄 Quick Recall: In the last lesson, you built individualized care plans with AI — prioritizing diagnoses, setting measurable goals, and selecting evidence-based interventions. Now let’s improve how you communicate that clinical information to colleagues, patients, and families.

SBAR Handoffs with AI

Structured handoffs prevent errors. Use AI to organize your clinical data into SBAR format:

Help me prepare a shift-change SBAR handoff. De-identified patient:

Patient: [age, sex, room type, admission diagnosis]
What happened on my shift: [key events, changes, interventions]
Current vital signs: [most recent VS]
Active orders: [relevant current orders]
Pending items: [labs, consults, tests awaiting results]
Concerns: [what I'm watching for]

Structure as SBAR:
S — Situation (what's happening right now, in one sentence)
B — Background (relevant history and what happened this shift)
A — Assessment (my clinical interpretation of the situation)
R — Recommendation (what the next nurse should watch for and do)

Keep it under 2 minutes when spoken aloud.

✅ Quick Check: Why does the prompt include “pending items” specifically?

Because dropped pending items are one of the most common handoff errors. A lab drawn at 5pm with results expected at 7pm can be forgotten if the 7pm nurse doesn’t know to check. A consultant who was called but hasn’t come by yet can fall off the radar. Explicitly listing pending items ensures nothing falls into the gap between shifts — the most dangerous space in patient care.

Physician Notification

When you need to call a physician about a patient concern:

Help me prepare a physician notification call. De-identified patient:

Patient: [age, sex, diagnosis, day of admission/procedure]
What changed: [the clinical change that prompted this call]
Current vital signs: [relevant VS]
Recent relevant labs/tests: [if applicable]
What I've done so far: [interventions already taken]
What I'm concerned about: [my clinical suspicion]
What I'm requesting: [order, assessment, guidance]

Structure this as a concise SBAR phone call script — under 45 seconds. Lead with urgency level: is this emergent, urgent, or informational?

Difficult Conversations

With Patients

Help me prepare for a difficult conversation with a patient.

Situation: [what I need to discuss — non-compliance, poor prognosis, behavior, etc.]
Patient context: [age, personality, emotional state, cultural considerations]
My goal: [what outcome I hope for from this conversation]
My concern: [what I'm worried about — anger, tears, denial]

Help me:
1. Choose the right opening (compassionate, direct, non-judgmental)
2. Find words for the hardest part of the message
3. Anticipate their likely reactions and how to respond
4. Include phrases that show empathy without giving false reassurance
5. Plan how to close the conversation constructively

With Families

Help me prepare to speak with a family about their loved one's condition.

Situation: [what's changed or what needs to be communicated]
Family context: [relationship dynamics, cultural background, language preferences]
What they currently know: [their understanding so far]
What I need to communicate: [the difficult information]

Help me:
1. Open with connection (acknowledge their concern)
2. Deliver information in small, digestible pieces
3. Use plain language (not medical jargon)
4. Check understanding after each piece of information
5. Allow space for emotional reactions
6. Close with clear next steps and who they can contact

Interdisciplinary Communication

For effective team collaboration:

Help me write a clear, concise message to [discipline: PT / OT / social work / dietary / pharmacy / case management]:

Patient context: [brief relevant background]
What I need from them: [specific request]
Relevant clinical data: [assessment findings that support the request]
Urgency: [routine / within 24 hours / urgent]
Best way to reach me: [phone, in-person, message]

Keep it professional, specific, and actionable. Include why this referral is needed and what outcome I'm hoping for.

✅ Quick Check: Why is including “why this referral is needed” important in an interdisciplinary message?

Because context changes priority and approach. “Please evaluate for PT” gives the therapist no guidance. “Please evaluate for PT — patient is post-op day 2 hip replacement, cleared for weight-bearing as tolerated, goal is safe discharge to home by day 4, lives alone and needs to manage stairs” tells them exactly what to assess, what the goal is, and what the timeline looks like. Better referrals lead to better care.

Exercise: Practice Your Communication Skills

Pick a patient from your recent shift and write a practice SBAR handoff using AI
Prepare for a difficult conversation you’ve been putting off (use the prompts above)
Draft one interdisciplinary referral message with specific clinical context
Compare your AI-structured SBAR to how you normally give handoffs — what’s different?

Key Takeaways

SBAR structure (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendation) prevents the communication errors that happen during handoffs
Always include pending items in handoffs — dropped pending labs, consults, and orders are among the most common handoff errors
Physician notification calls should lead with urgency level and include SBAR format for efficient, complete communication
Difficult conversations benefit from AI preparation — finding the right words and anticipating reactions before the moment arrives
Interdisciplinary messages need context (why the referral, what the goal is) to get the best response from colleagues
Practice these communication templates until the structure becomes automatic — clear communication saves lives

Up Next: In the next lesson, you’ll optimize your shift workflow with AI — preparation, rounding, time management, and discharge planning.