Telephone orders....question

[mycatmax]

I am a Very very new RN. Today was my second time getting a TO. I had a patient ready to be d/c ed from the cardiac doctor and i had to call the PCP and see if he was okay with it...anything to add... and get an order for her coumadin. Now when i called his office, I spoke with the RN there and gave her the information, thinking that she would give that info to the doc and he would then call me back. Well SHE ended up calling me back. She repeated the orders that he said. I asked my preceptor about this and she told me to write it as a TO order.... with the doc's name/ my name.

I just thought that was weird. Shouldn't i have spoke with the Doctor directly instead of having his nurse tell me the orders that he told her? That was wrong, wasn't it? Is this normal practice? I didn't feel exactly comfortable with it.

[EmmaG, RN]

That was protocol for our hospital... however I always signed the order office-nurse's name and title/physician's name/my name.

[mycatmax]

Thanks Emmanuel! I think it would be a good idea to look into my hospital's policy. I also like how you signed the order. Thanks!

[EmmaG, RN]

Thanks Emmanuel! I think it would be a good idea to look into my hospital's policy. I also like how you signed the order. Thanks!

It might be a different policy where you work. Ours allowed for that; I did the same whenever taking a 'third-party' order (like from RT or pharmacy, for example).

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

That was protocol for our hospital... however I always signed the order office-nurse's name and title/physician's name/my name.

This is how I do it is as well. I will only take a verbal from an RN, no other staff. I write TORB (telephone order read back) Mary Smith, RN/Dr. Jones/Tweety, RN. Including both the nurse and the doc.

[EmmaG, RN]

This is how I do it is as well. I will only take a verbal from an RN, no other staff. I write TORB (telephone order read back) Mary Smith, RN/Dr. Jones/Tweety, RN. Including both the nurse and the doc.

Yeah, sorry forgot about that; I write "read back and verified" with any telephone order (also hospital policy). We were allowed to take verbals from RT and pharmacists, but I preferred them to write it themselves if at all possible.

[LuvWounds]

I am a Very very new RN. Today was my second time getting a TO. I had a patient ready to be d/c ed from the cardiac doctor and i had to call the PCP and see if he was okay with it...anything to add... and get an order for her coumadin. Now when i called his office, I spoke with the RN there and gave her the information, thinking that she would give that info to the doc and he would then call me back. Well SHE ended up calling me back. She repeated the orders that he said. I asked my preceptor about this and she told me to write it as a TO order.... with the doc's name/ my name.

I just thought that was weird. Shouldn't i have spoke with the Doctor directly instead of having his nurse tell me the orders that he told her? That was wrong, wasn't it? Is this normal practice? I didn't feel exactly comfortable with it.

I argee with them both. I too would have written TO That nursees name/dr whoeever/newatthis,lpn.

Same thing when a NP calls and gives an order, and when a pt comes back from a consult. you write that dr/pcp/ypurself

[biker nurse]

I've been doing it like that for years!! ALWAYS include the other nurses name

[jmgrn65, RN]

yes it should be

T.O N.Nurse RN/Dr. Jones/Jmgrn65 RN

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

Make sure you are speaking to a licensed nurse and not an MA as that's what most doctors employ and call their "nurse".

T.O.R.B Dr.Whoever/Nurse,RN/HospNurseRN

Telephone Order Read Back

[mycatmax]

THANK YOU! everybody! I KNEW I was doing something wrong....it just felt wrong! I am going to look into my hospital's policy. Thanks again!

[bill4745, RN]

Are you sure state regulations allow you to take doctor's orders through an RN?