Seeing the thread about Code Pink's for rude docs, and others mentioning Code Pink meaning peds cardiac arrest, made me think about the diff Codes we have.
i like the "code elvis".... never heard that one before :)
ours that I can remember are code 99 for cardiac/resp. arrest or any serious medical emergency, code red for fire, code boy/girl for missing patient, a particular name we give a patient who is "no information" for their door and chart, and code green for security. i know there are more, just can't remember them.
and i know there's a code for disaster which may be a code yellow, can't remember. and i think we have a code black for bomb threat or violent situation. they're on the back of my name tag and fortunately i haven't heard them!! :)
We have the general code blue, red, assist, ect at our hospital. One thing they changed recently is the fact that they called a room number when they call a Code Blue. I do understand the point behind it (allowing the team to know where the patient is...) but I think it can cause more panic and anxiety than is needed, especially if a family is present in house somewhere. I understand that families should know that their family member is very ill, but they don't deserve to find out like that! I would rather have someone standing at the end of a hallway or stairs or something directing people where to go, or like someone else mentioned, follow the crowd...for the most part, unless you are in some secluded spot, you'll find it as long as you get to the right floor or unit. I think just hearing a code blue doesn't alarm families in the hospital as much as if all of a sudden they hear their families room number called over the speaker!
We don't use "code". A cardiac arrest is Dr. Leo or Dr. Pedi Leo. Everything else goes by "signals". Red signal, fire. Black signal, bomb threat. White signal, external/internal disaster, Orange signal, chemical spill etc. We have a few others but honestly I would have to look at the cheat sheet on my badge to remember them!
We don't use "code". A cardiac arrest is Dr. Leo or Dr. Pedi Leo. Everything else goes by "signals". Red signal, fire. Black signal, bomb threat. White signal, external/internal disaster, Orange signal, chemical spill etc. We have a few others but honestly I would have to look at the cheat sheet on my badge to remember them!
Purple: Very sick patient on the way in, or code coming in (usually for multisystem traumas or cath lab patients)
Red: Fire
We also have Trauma Team 1 and Trauma Team 2 called when level one services are needed.
As for calling codes overhead... I agree with you. The problem is that we have a giant hospital, so it wouldn't be feasible for us to have people in stairways directing. We really have to call it overhead. ER, PICU, NICU, and other ICU's handle their codes in-unit, so they aren't called.
To those that call stuff Dr. Whatever... what if you have a doctor that has that name? If you need Dr. Leo to come to 4 North, would the code team respond as well?
I agree with calling to the specific unit, just not the EXACT room number. They used to call just wing and floor, say E5 or A6 south, but now they actually all it to A607b or something like that.
I miss the Dr paging system... it was almost like an inside joke (not that those moments were funny) but patients and vistors never caught on. We haven't used that in a few years and I can't even remember what the "Dr's" names were, but there was never confusion since the names were made up and probably don't exist anywhere. I think fire might have been Dr Firebaum? No, seems too obvious...
Dr GYAT reminds me of something we learned early in nursing school (but we were never taught this!!) Before RACE fire protocol was standard we used RADAC (rescue-alert-dial help-?-extinguish) Someone once joked that he used RADAC in any emergency (Run Away! Don't Act Concerned) I still think of that every time I catch something wrong out of the corner of my eye and wish it could be "someone else's" problem. I never saw him follow his RADAC philosophy so I won't either!
I remember a nursing school instructor who worked in a hospital where code red was a trauma alert... so the first time she heard "code red ER" called at the clinical site she sent 2 of her senior students to observe. (they had been instructed prior on how to un-obtrusivley observe codes) She later got a mild reprimand for sending two innocent students to a fire!! (false alarm)
cnolan
75 Posts
Code 99: Resp/Cardiac Arrest
Code Black: Bomb
Code Red: Fire
Code Pink: Child Abduction
Code Green: Violent Weather