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3. The charge nurse takes a telephone order for morphine 50 mg IVP every 3 hours. After hanging up the phone, the nurse feels this order is not safe. List three (3) strategies to prevent errors of miscommunication when receiving telephone orders.

Answer 1

Communication is a key process in achieving better outcomes. With advancement in technology and time constraints communication over phone with other healthcare workers and patients has become common. Telephonic communication can sometimes be misleading if the message is not perceived correctly.

Some common strategies avoid such miscommunication are :

1. Make sure that you know whom you are talking to and where to call him back if any doubts arise. This will help reduce errors through miscommunication.

2. Always make notes of the message received so that even if the receiver cannot memorise the message he can check the notes at any time.

3. While delivering an order on phone one should clear, understandable and fluent. The order should be brief and precise.

4. The environmental sounds or disturbances should be kept minimum while communicating through phone.

5. The sender and receiver of order should focus on the communication and talk factually to avoid errors.

6. The receiver of order should not interrupt the sender when he is talking. Once the sender has finished his conversation the receiver should ask for any doubts and repeat the order to double check it.