Are verbal orders still done?

[pumlittlekin]

Hey everyone

This question is for everyone,

Are verbal orders still done? I thought we could no longer do verbal orders.

[melsman1904]

I've taken them recently in emergency situations. Otherwise, I hand them the chart. Our docs are pretty good about following proper procedure.

[SteffersRN87, BSN, RN]

Verbal orders are frowned upon unless it is an emergency situation. However, I work in the outpatient setting and many times we are calling interventional cardiologists or radiologis or GI docs during a procedure. So verbal orders are a must. You must be dilligent in having the docs sign off the verbal order when coming to make rounds.

[loveLA824901]

If a doc gives a verbal order I make sure I let him know it won't be done until 'its in' (unless something urgent/stat).

[Crash_Cart]

I can't even begin to imagine how an ER would ever be capable of functioning without verbal orders occuring on a frequent and regular basis.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

When I read this, I immediately though of this one doc at my last facility who was notorious for not writing his own orders. I guess one night, he had a patient admitted at the time he was in the building. The charge approached him to write orders and he demanded she call him later. So he is still in the building after she "built" the admitting orders. He was in the unit and still wouldn't talk to her so she paged him. He was literally at the other end of the nurses station and answers the page and proceeds to approve the orders. Mind you she is sitting at the same station. This was the most extreme case I have seen of a doctor avoiding writing their own orders! Currently, if I have a "VO" I will write what they tell me and then just shove the chart at them for signing, so far has worked every time.

That is what I do. I ask for something and then put the chart in front so they can write the order.