1. Introduction
Who, what and where you are and why are you calling also is this a good time to talk?
Situation
What is happening now. “The situation is….”
Background
What led to the situation. “By way of background…”
Assessment
What you consider the problem is. “My assessment is” or “I assess….”
Recommendation
What should we do to correct the problem. “I recommend…..”

2. Introduction
Who, what and where you are and why are you calling
Establish you are talking to the right person and that it is convenient to have the conversation at that time (or, where necessary, that the conversation must take place now for a pressing reason)
“Hi I’m Jane, a nurse on the medical ward at St Elsewhere Hospital is this the Bed Manager? We are currently looking after a gastro patient who requires transfer to you, Can I discuss this patient with you now please? ”

3. Situation
Give the situation as of now, including key information such as patient’s age and gender, and current status
“The situation is Mrs X is a 62 year old lady who presented to us with a Gastro Intestinal hemorrhage yesterday. Mrs X is under DR John who has advised that she needs to be transferred to you today”

4. Background
Give the relevant background details such as presenting factors and complications
“ By way of background Mrs X presented with melaena and haemoglobin of 54, she’s had 3 units of blood in the last 20 hours, she has had 2 episodes of melaena, cark claret in colour not fresh blood and is on a Somac infusion running at 10mls/hr and IVF at 100 mls/hr, she has 2 x 18g IVCs and remains nil by mouth. Observations are stable at the moment Heart rate 80 and blood pressure 113/56 and a-febrile, oxygen saturations 95% on 2L oxygen. Mrs X has a history of Pneumonia, intermittent haemodialysis and acute myocardial infarction in 2007 for which she has been on Aspirin since her AMI”

5. What do you consider is going on
Assessment
What do you consider is going on
“On the basis of Mrs X’s observations we have assessed that she is currently stable but is at high risk of a possible rebleed”

6. Recommendation
Be clear about your recommendation or what you are asking of the other person
“It has been recommended that Mrs X be transferred to you as she needs an endoscopy and further investigations, ideally she would benefit from having a bed on the gastro ward”