Suggested improvements for verbal sign-out
| Category (n) | Sample comments (n = 10) |
|---|---|
| Anticipate (5) | “I would like to know who might bring me trouble or who is going to get sick. I think that it is helpful to prioritize sickness and what you are supposed to do.” (P7) |
| Pertinent (2) | “XX tends to editorialize during verbal sign-out than to discuss the pertinent issues. For example, ‘this lady is really nice and her family is from Michigan’. This does not help me; I would prefer a concise review of the patients’ problems.” (C8) |
| Face-to-face (2) | “In general, I think that verbal sign-out is helpful but some people just say pick up the sheets and want to do it over the phone and this upsets me. This happens all the time when I am in the middle of post-call rounds, I would prefer to have time to interact with them and instead they just come to pick up the sheets from my resident. I try to track them down and let them know if something took place on one of their patients.” (P2) |
| Thorough (1) | “In general, they don’t tell you everything that they did. There are different criteria for what is minor (e.g. holding a BP med). But increasing a dose is important to know.” (P8) |