TY - JOUR T1 - Are verbal orders a threat to patient safety? JF - Quality and Safety in Health Care JO - Qual Saf Health Care SP - 165 LP - 168 DO - 10.1136/qshc.2009.034041 VL - 18 IS - 3 AU - D S Wakefield AU - B J Wakefield Y1 - 2009/06/01 UR - http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/18/3/165.abstract N2 - Background: The use of verbal orders has been identified as a potential contributor to poor quality and less safe care. As a result, many organisations have encouraged changing the verbal orders process and/or reducing/eliminating verbal orders altogether (Joint Commission (2005), Institute of Medicine (2001), Leapfrog organisation, Institute of Safe Medication Practices). Ironically there is a paucity of research evidence to support the widespread concern over verbal order.Aims: This paper describes the very limited existing research on verbal orders, presents a model of verbal order use identifying potential error trigger points and suggests a verbal order research agenda in order to better understand the nature and extent of the potential patient care safety threat posed by verbal orders. ER -