Any staff who receives a verbal order or test result writes down the information and reads back the information and the person giving the order or test result confirms the information that was read back.

What It Means
Staff members must verify the complete order or test result by having the person receiving the order or test result "read-back" the complete order or test result. Simply repeating back the order is not sufficient. Whenever possible, the receiver of the order should write down the complete order or enter it into a computer, then read it back, and receive confirmation from the individual who gave the order.

Why It Is Important
Medication errors are frequently hard to detect, but can occur for a number of reasons. One known cause is the inaccurate recording of verbal test results or orders. Reading back a verbal message after writing it is one way to reduce these kinds of errors.

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