Code Red/Code Blue/Code whatever....what do you have/what are they for?

We changed our codes a few years ago so they were consistant everywhere - I thought that meant international consistancy, but maybe it's just through Australia (or Victoria. Or my network. Anything's possible).

Respond red, stand by - activation of smoke detectors and/or suspected fire

Respond red, confirmed - actual flames and/or smoke

Respond orange - evacuation

Respond yellow - internal emergency (flooding, computer failure...)

Respond blue - cardiorespiratory arrest/medical emergency

Respond purple - arson/bomb

Respond brown - external emergency (train crash, explosion...)

MET call

Before we brought in the new system a code blue was an external emergency and a code was called by switch announcing that the unit doctors were wanted urgently - "calling Dr Smith, urgently, ward 3B, Dr Smith, urgently, ward 3B. Calling Dr Brown, urgently..." by the time they'd finished it was practically over!

My favourite announced code was a very calm "Respond red, confirmed, respond red, confirmed, respond red, confirmed..." and then, panic breaking through, "switchboard!!!"

We have the normal ones in my hospital like

Code Blue - c/p arrest

Code Red -Fire

Code White- Security

Code Pink - Inniment Birth w/ the pt not on the OB floor

Code Black- Tornado

Code Yellow- Haz Mat

and then we have random ones

Code Grey- Someone,not a pt, has something wrong w/ them somewhere in the hospital....

Code 32- person w/ a weapon, the one and only time I have had to call that on, even the operator didn't know what to do! and then the whole code team came rushing to triage where shots had just been fired outside!!!

and my FAVORITE

Code Fuschia- Civil Riot (really????)

here are the codes for majority of the hospitals in my city. i must say that i didn't know there were so many different types of codes until i started typing them. sadly enough we receive a laminated card that goes with our hospital id ..... when ever i have heard one that i was like huh i just looked it up :)

code 25 is respiratory distress

code blue is cardio-pulmonary arrest

code white violent incident

code red fire

code black bomb threat/search

code orange external danger

code green evacuation of facility

code pink abduction

code grey external air contamination

code yellow missing patient

code brown internal chemical spill

and here i always thought code brown was when c-diff had taken over someone's bowels

I knew I'd forgotten something!

Respond grey - threatened violence/aggression (patient, visitor, staff)

Respond black - actual violence/armed intruder/hold up

Blacks aren't usually announced over the PA, though last year there was a guy with a gun in ED at shift change and they called so the PM staff wouldn't traipse through his path!

We have:

Code Blue Cardiac arrest

Dr Red for fire

Dr Black for Imminent storms/tornado

Dr Gray for watches of storms/tornado

Dr Yellow Missing Res, We actually call Res name over intercom if suspected missing

Dr Orange for bomb threat

dr heart - incident requiring cpr and code team

dr fred - fire as in fire+red

mr greengrass - security stat

Code 1- Hurricane damage...heard this alot during katrina

Code 7 -Cardiac or Respiratory Arrest

Code Blue- Fire

Code Grey -STroke

Code Adam- child abducted

Code 7 Pink- child cardia/resp arrest

Another hosp...

Code Red-FIRE....When resp is supposed to show up at with an O2 tank and mask!! Like I am going to bring a tank to a fire!!!!!

my hospital calls a lot of code pinks - multiple times per day. it's always a false alarm. i think this desensitizes everyone to any REAL code pinks that may happen some day.

We have the following:

Code blue: Medical emergency

Code white; Peds medical emergency

Code pink: infant abduction

Code pruple: chile abduction

Code green: elopement/ missing pt name and description called over PA

Code grey: violent person

Code silver: person with weapon

Code yellow: bomb threat

Code orange: hazmat situation/spill

Code tirage internal: internal disaster

Code triage external: oustide/community disaster

Code black: tornado watch/warning

Code red: fire

Code Red - Fire

Code Blue - cardiac or resp arrest

Code Pink - infant abduction

Code Orange - armed intruder

Code Green - disaster mode

Code Yellow - out of control patient or visitor

I forgot..

CODE BROWN----That one is not called overhead,,,,just stink the halls!!:chuckle

I worked at a hospital that had a code gold for security (of course we had no security guards). Have you ever tried to say code gold when you are hyped up? I told the operator if she ever got a call saying cold gode that it was actually a code gold...man that was difficult to even write!

Where I work now a code blue is code 70 and a code pink (abduction) is code stork followed by a # for the age of the child.