Hi everyone! Looking to get input from people who have a dedicated code team at their facility.Where I work, the code team consists of residents/an attending, a pharmacist, the lead RT, and then a nurse from cardiac ICU and a nurse from medical ICU. In the ICUs, nurses that have been trained to take the code/rapid response pager rotate carrying it. So you show up for your shift and are told you have the code pager that day. But you also still have an ICU assignment, that in the event of a code, you have to run away from at a moment's notice while quickly finding someone to watch your patients. As a new ICU nurse, I'm terrified of having to carry the pager in the future, and still managing my patients. I've talked with some more senior employees who have also mentioned that a dedicated code team would be helpful and safer. So, if your hospital has such a thing, please enlighten me! Who is on the team? What do they do in between responding to codes? Any other feedback or tidbits of information would be great. Thanks so much!
Our RRT team is a PICU resident, PICU attending, PICU RN (usually on the transport/flight team), pharmacist, respiratory therapist, nurse administrator, and child life specialist.
Between RRTs and codes, the nurses help out in the PICU and serve as a resource nurse for the day. Each PICU RN who is trained to be an RRT/Code responder rotates as the RRT nurse every few weeks and works at the bedside or in the flight team the rest of the time.
PICU, CVICU, and NICU use their own staff to respond to codes.
I wonder how those dedicated code teams would spend the time when there is no code. I mean, hopefully there won't be non stop codes. I can not imagine that a regular hospital would pay a code team to hang out while waiting for the code to happen???
Im a dedicated code team member :). Actually its our rapid response/ code team. The RRT "team", is myself and a RT. Sometimes RT isnt needed and I send them away. Then its just me. I help deal with any situations. sometimes I can help stabilize them and keep the patient where they are. Sometimes we have to escalate care.
Deal with a whole bunch of things throughout the day. Some things are minor, somethings are major. I dont have a patient assignment so I keep an eye on concerning patients, ICU transfers, new admits etc. We do a lot of chart surveillance. Round on the units so we are available for questions etc.
Essentially I am a critical care resource nurse or the ACLS code team member. Just depends. I answer questions ranging from NGT issues, to helping resuscitate a septic patient, full on code, etc. I help expedite transfers, help the nurses talk to the docs (especially when they wont take them seriously), sometimes we need to be involved to make things happen.
I might go a whole week and not transfer anyone to ICU, or like the other day I transferred 5 (though that is rare). So we do things other than sit twiddling our thumbs waiting for that code blue page. Our job is to avoid that code blue page.
The actual code team when a code is called though is RRT nurse, RT, ICU doctor, ICU charge nurse and everyone else who is there to help with charting, CPR, running to get things etc.
nurseinthezoo
89 Posts
Rapid response NP, ICU and CAR nurses respond to codes where I work.