Telephone orders...read back and verified...

[deespoohbear]

We were just told today in our staff meeting that we are suppose to read back telephone orders to the doctors and then sign it "read back and verified." I always read my orders back to the physicians when I take telephone/verbal orders but just sign T.O. Dr. Smith/B.Boop, RN. Boss said this is something that our lovely friends at JCAHO want and the state inspectors. News flash: I can write that to the cows come home, but if it comes down to brass tacks it is still my word vs. the MD's word about the orders. Gee, who thinks up this crap? If you really want it verified then there should be a third party on the line to witness everything. Otherwise it boils down to doc said/nurse said baloney.

Fortunately most of the physicians I work with are pretty decent about telephone orders. Since we are a small facility and such we get to know each other well. I guess other nurses aren't so fortunate and probably have ran into doctors denying they ever gave a telephone order even when they did. We only had one doctor that I didn't trust in that manner and I would always get a second nurse to verify his orders. (He retired several years ago, thank god. I really think the man was going senile).

Anyway, just more charting for us nurses....

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

We write V.O.R. (verbal order readback) or T.O.R. (telephone order readback). Really not that hard.

[NannaNurse]

We have been doing this for about 6-8 months now. They put big signs up...

"RTO=Read back tele. order"

"RVO=Read back verbal order" and some of the dingy nurse still write what they want......'this tele. order was read back and verified'....etc. Much easier to write RTO/RVO.

I agree, if something comes up, we 'little nurses' are the ones going to the chopping block.

Nanna