Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Public Health Research 2327-6703 4 4 2016 7 16 The Impact of Inpatient Electronic Sign-out on Quality and Patient Safety 149 153 EN Mohammad U. Malik Internal Medicine Conemaugh Health System, Johnstown, PA Amibahen Gandhi Hassan Tahir Jhanavi Sagi Sandhya Narukonda Thomas Simunich Saba Waseem Medha Joshi AJPHR2016445 10.12691/ajphr-4-4-5 2016 4 2 2016 5 22 2016 7 14 Introduction: The transition of patient care to the resident on call during the sign-out/hand off is an integral part of residency training and is a time vulnerable to medical errors. Methods: Authors conducted the study from July 28th to December 14th 2014. Residents (n=26) were required to sign-out via the electronically via the SBAR (Situation-Background-Assessment-Recommendation) based electronic template. The quality of sign-out was assessed by night float questionnaire. The quality of the sign-out (scale 1 to 5), preventable morbidities, LOS, mortalities and readmissions were compared pre and post intervention for the admitted patients (pre= 184, post=172). Results: Improvement in the mean quality (Likert scale 1-5) of both the written sign-out, 3.0 to 3.8 (p<0.001), and verbal sign-out, 3.0 to 3.6 (p=0.002) (n=22 pre and post), was found. The preventable morbidities decreased from 10% to 5% (p=0.047). No statistically significant difference was noted for lethal morbidities, length of stay or readmissions. Conclusion: Implementation of electronic sign-out in addition to verbal sign-out improved the quality of sign-out with trend towards reduction in morbidities. The electronic sign-out may provide key information and help the on call team to make better decisions regarding the patient care.