Talking with the patient

How to write admission orders

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPA
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Admission orders set up the first hours of care in the hospital. Missing or unclear orders delay treatment and cause errors.

Step by step

  1. Admit and assign care level

    Write admit to the unit (floor, step-down or ICU), the attending and the diagnosis. Choose the level of care that matches how sick the patient is. [1]

  2. Condition and code status

    State the condition (stable, guarded, critical) and the code status after discussing it with the patient or proxy. [1]

  3. Vitals and nursing orders

    Set vital sign frequency, monitoring and when to call the provider, with clear numbers. [1]

  4. Allergies, diet and activity

    Confirm allergies and the reaction. Order a diet (including NPO if needed) and an activity level. [2]

  5. IV fluids and medications

    Order fluids and medicines with dose, route, frequency and indication. Use generic names and avoid unsafe abbreviations. [3]

  6. Prevention orders

    Add blood clot prevention, fall precautions and other safety orders when indicated. [2]

  7. Labs and studies

    Order the tests you need and when. Avoid daily labs that will not change care. [1]

  8. Review before signing

    Reconcile against home medications and check for duplicates or interactions. [2]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

25 VMS cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  2. The Joint Commission, National Patient Safety Goals
  3. Open RN, Nursing Pharmacology 2e (CC BY 4.0)
  4. AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back)

Facts and steps follow AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs); AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back). VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.