standing orders

Good question! Although standing orders are signed by our medical director upon admit, I write a verbal order for each standing order initiated and have the medical director sign at IDT.

I say write it as a V.O./R.S.O. The LTC I used to work at would do it that way just to c.y.a.

We notify the doc that we initiated but do not require a signature. From a legal standpoint, the orders do not need to be signed (again.)

Upon admission we have the pts doc sign the SO...they are already signed by our med director. For our comfort pack SO, even though they have signed off on the morphine etc, we do get a new order if the pt begins using the morphine on a regular basis! I truly believe most of the docs barely look at the SO, they just sign on the dotted line!

When we add the medication from the standing order to the med list it automatically generates an order which is then sent for signature.