The source of many medication errors is:

Verbal/telephone orders are widely recognized aserror-pronebecause they can be misheard, misunderstood, or transcribed incorrectly—especially with sound-alike drug names, confusing numerals (15 vs 50), background noise, accents, and interruptions. ISMP and patient safety advisories recommend minimizing verbal orders whenever possible and using safeguards such as read-back/confirm-back, spelling drug names, stating digits individually, and documenting promptly. Risk management objectives include reducing reliance on memory and imperfect communication by prioritizing written or electronic orders (CPOE), standardizing when verbal orders are permitted (true emergencies), and auditing compliance to prevent unsafe normalization. Because medication errors can cause severe harm, controlling verbal order risk is a high-yield safety intervention and improves legal defensibility by aligning practice with recognized safety recommendations.