Orders

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Introduction

Orders are investigations and treatments requests by health care providers with necessary authority.

These must be accompanied by date, time, and requesting provider's name, signature, and contact (ie, pager).

 

Medication orders should include generic name, dosage, route (PO, IV, sub.cut., IM, etc), frequency, and duration. Examples of well-written orders include:

• furosemide 40 mg PO daily
• ciprofloxacin 400mg IV q12h x 12 days

 

Orders must be clearly written. There have been numerous errors, some fatal, due to lack of clarity. As well, a number of abbreviations are no longer permitted, due to increased risk of confusion. Some of these are as follows:

Old Abbreviation OD (daily)

Potential for Confusion

Use Instead daily

 

 

 

 

 

Resources and References

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