Slide 5

In some ways, administering medication to a patient can be similar to playing the game “telephone”, where everyone tries to correctly interpret the original order. The physician can order a medication by writing it down in the orders section of the chart, giving a verbal order to a nurse, or calling the order to the pharmacy. The pharmacist then takes the order, interprets it, types the label, the technician fills the order, the pharmacist checks the order, and dispenses it. The nurse either hangs the IV bag the pharmacy sent up or gets the medication out of the patient’s medication drawer. Since there are several steps and several people involved between the physician’s verbal or written order to the time the patient receives the medication, there are many places to err with look-alike sound-alike medications.