Impact of electronic signature on radiology report turnaround time

The purpose of this study was to measure the impact of electronic signature on report turnaround time. The Radiology Information System (RIS) database was interrogated to obtain a file containing all examinations recorded within a one-month period. Two sectors were specifically studied: abdominal ultrasound and chest radiography. Each of these sectors had one reader per day. The periods studied were October 2001 (before implementation of electronic signature) and February 2002 (3 months after electronic signature implementation). For the abdominal ultrasound examinations, the median time from transcription to final signature decreased from 11 days to 3 days with the introduction of electronic signature ( P < 0.001). For the chest radiographs, the median time from transcription to final signature decreased from 10 days to 5 days with the introduction of electronic signature ( P < 0.001). Electronic signature significantly shortens the time interval between transcription and finalization of radiology reports.