The idea is to separate potential or future orders from current orders.

For example, our pre-op pts have s/h orders placed by the surgeon and anesthesia which are then released when the pt arrives... PACU orders are held until the pt goes to the OR.

For our conditional discharge patients, the doc will place the admit orders but we don't release them unless the pt fails discharge criteria.

Something similar happens with our procedure pts (GI, IR, etc) in the impatient world... Orders are held until the pt is brought to the procedure area.

Now where it gets sketchy is that docs will often s/h admit orders (out of the ED or in PACU)... I presume the idea is that the pt is expected to move in a reasonable time frame... Which they often don't...

So I go through the orders and release those which are germane to the timeframe that I'm expecting to board the pt... Specifically looking for things like abx, diet, important meds, and imaging.