Taking admission orders over the phone.

If the patient is being admitted by the hospitalist (or residents with them), they are there writing them themselves.

On the not very often case when they are getting admitted by a private doc or service, letting them call the orders in to me speeds things up a lot, rather than waiting for the doc to be able to come in. It is usually just basic dx, diet, meds and AM labs. The doc then comes in after office hours or in the morning (I work nights). I don't really mind, because I want the patient to be able to move as soon as possible. Our docs just ask another nurse or the charge if I am busy in a room, any of us will take orders for a coworker if we are at the desk.

Our hospital policy won't let the ER docs write the admit orders, there used to be a lot of problems that disappeared with the new policy.

When the ED doc hands me the phone I very politely say, "Dr____, please hold while I get the nurse." and promptly transfer the call to the floor. (I just need to make sure I know which floor :])
Works about 99% of the time.
Bonus is that the floor now knows they're getting a patient and what has been ordered.

AWESOME IDEA!!!!!!!!!

I just recently started working in a trauma 2 ED and often ED docs give me thier phone so admitting docs can give me the admission orders. I have to stop everything I'm doing (I'm usually in the middle of doing 3 things at the same time) to take these orders. Meanwhile the docs/residents are at the desk talking or already on the computer. Is this normal at other EDs? Aren't the docs that have seen the patients in better position to enter these orders including medications & labs, not to mention they enter orders all the time? How does it work in your ED? Just a little frustrated!

We take verbal orders. We have tried to change it but they won't give in. We used the policy that verbal orders are only for emergencies; is admitting a stable with pneumonia an emergency? I don't think so.
Our way of fighting back is to take a long time to find blank order sheets, and to not have a list of patient's meds - this frutrates the heck out of the admitting docs.

In our ER the MDs give the admitting docs the disposition and hand the phone over to which ever RN is close by. We have sleeping docs who drop the phone, we have the whispering docs that don't want to wake their spouse and the docs that call our ER MD "that idiot" and vent. Talk about fun, fun, fun!

When the ED doc hands me the phone I very politely say, "Dr____, please hold while I get the nurse." and promptly transfer the call to the floor. (I just need to make sure I know which floor :])
Works about 99% of the time.
Bonus is that the floor now knows they're getting a patient and what has been ordered.