Code Lavender?!

[AnnieOaklyRN]

Hi,

I was just doing some holistic nursing homework and one of the questions was asking what it was. I had never heard of this until I looked up what it was.

Apparently it is like a code team, except it is a group of nurses trained in holistic care, that assist patients and staff who are experiencing high stress.

Is anyone using this at their hospital or other facility, and is it effective??

Annie

[trinitymaster]

As long as no one is calling a code "Happy Ending", then all is well.

[Glycerine82, LPN]

It's like the dermatology department from Greys Anatomy! I'm in !

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

You totally made me think of the old "Calgon! Take me away!" commercials.

I hope you get a little respite soon :-)

Thanks. Wednesday can't come soon enough! :)

[RNinDM]

We, supposedly, have a Code Lavender team where I work. There was a lot of PR about it. Supposedly, if a nurse is extremely stressed or upset, someone will call a member of the code Lavender team who will bring the nurse to a quiet place - that is not a restroom, and do a few moments of healing touch with some quiet music. The nurses who do this do carry around a lavender scented lotion. However, I have yet to see this actually happen. We do have several nurses trained in healing touch - just to busy to actually use it.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Code Lavender:

We all know our healthcare codes—Code Blue requires the most urgency in the restoration of a patient's clinical condition. The Code Lavender™ system is an integrative healing equivalent of a Code Blue. Code Lavender™ services consist of a rapid response team of specialists, who are called upon when an individual—patient or her family or an employee—has reached her emotional limit.

Everyone has seen it happen—especially in large hospitals other health care facilities: staff, patients and family members who have fallen victim to fatigue, despair, and generally negative feelings which counteract all attempts at healing. The busy routine of hospital life centers around high-tech equipment that is constantly bleeping at patients and staff, and stress and anxiety permeate every room and every mood. As a result more and more hospitals and health care facilities have come to the realization that it is vital to all successful treatments that both employees as well as patients and their families feel that they have the mental and emotional excess strength and energy to cope with challenging situations. In this regard, the Code Lavender™ integrative medicine services become a valuable tool that can help ensure that individuals will not only be able to go on after being presented with a difficult case, diagnosis, or loss, but will also be capable of reacting in a fashion that will result in better care and in better healing.

...Employees of the Cleveland Clinic accounted for 40% of all requests for Code Lavenderâ„¢ services during the period covered by the same Cleveland Clinic survey. An incredible 99% of employees surveyed reported that Code Lavender services met or exceeded their expectations, and 98% of employees surveyed reported that they would recommend the Code Lavender program to a friend. The willingness among employees to call for a Code Lavender intervention on their own behalf or that of a colleague speaks to the necessity of implementing a coordinated effort to fight off secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and general burnout...

Code Lavender: The Sweet Smell of Support

.

..Since 2008, the Spiritual Care team (chaplains) and Healing Services holistic care nurses (now together on one team under the Office of Patient Experience) have been working together voluntarily on a holistic rapid response to crisis that we nicknamed Code Lavender.” Though we didn't't create the name, we heard it first from Cleveland Clinic's first Office of Patient Experience director, Dr. Bridget Duffy, we have used it since in order to indicate both urgency and calm. We had prepared to launch a pilot, thinking we would mainly be administering to patients and their families, but a chaplain intern died suddenly on her first Sunday on duty, and our own team of chaplains became the first test case” of a Code Lavender.

The other members of the team, holistically trained nurses and a social worker, all of whom had trained in Reiki and other forms of relaxation, came to the Spiritual Care department with water, aromatherapy lotions, healthy snacks, relaxing music and the message -- loud and clear: You matter…and what you just went through matters. Take a breather…we're here for you...

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

Who's going to take care of my patients while I'm getting a massage?

...sounds great though.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

Finally some health care spending that makes sense! Code Lavender...gosh, that's sounds lovely about now.

[elkpark]

My facility (a large academic medical center) doesn't have a "code lavender" team, but it did create, a couple years ago, a couple "meditation rooms" for staff (at opposite ends of the complex), that have massaging lounge chairs, soft music, dim lighting, and aromatherapy misters. The idea is that, if you're having an awful shift, you can take a break to go there and relax for a little while. I don't know how much they're getting used.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I'm surprised to hear they bring scented lotions, since we're strictly forbidden from any lotion use outside of the healthcare grade lotion the hospital provides for infection control reasons.

[Farawyn]

I figured this was referring to air freshener after a Code Brown.

[ICURN3020]

My facility (a large academic medical center) doesn't have a "code lavender" team, but it did create, a couple years ago, a couple "meditation rooms" for staff (at opposite ends of the complex", that have massaging lounge chairs, soft music, dim lighting, and aromatherapy misters. The idea is that, if you're having an awful shift, you can take a break to go there and relax for a little while. I don't know how much they're getting used.

I think it'd be really difficult to force myself to get up and go back to my unit after seeking refuge in a quiet, serene area such as what you've described I really need to look into having a place like this in my home somewhere....I'd settle for a closet sometimes

All jokes aside though, it's nice to hear that the mental, emotional and spiritual needs of nurses (and other healthcare staff) are being addressed. We deal with so many ethical dilemmas and stressful situations on a daily basis and by hospitals investing time and resources into their staff, they are benefiting also. We are able to do our jobs much better when our own needs are met and we're not functioning on the edge of having a nervous breakdown.

[Red Kryptonite]

I don't like lavender for this. Could we re-name it Code Fabulous?