What’s on the template

It’s a single page, designed to be filled in fast. Four labeled boxes with just enough prompts to keep you on track, plus space for the basics up top:

• Patient quick-stats — name, room, age, code status, allergies.
• Situation — the one-line reason you’re calling, with a spot for current vitals.
• Background — admitting diagnosis, relevant history, what’s been done.
• Assessment — your read on what’s happening (prompts to nudge you past “I’m not sure”).
• Recommendation — what you’re asking for, plus a line to write down the orders you get back.

That last line matters more than it looks — writing the order back as you hear it is a built-in read-back, and it saves you from “wait, did they say 250 or 500?” two minutes later.

How to use it

Before you call, spend 30 seconds filling in your bullets. You don’t need full sentences — “BP 84/50, post-op day 1, looks dry, want fluids” is plenty. Then you read off your own notes instead of thinking out loud while a provider waits. New nurses tell us this is the single thing that made phone calls stop feeling terrifying.

Want to see it in action first? Read through our SBAR examples — five ready-to-use scripts you can map straight onto the template.