code teams

[redd0711]

our facility is looking into making our code process more efficient. tell me who responds to your codes and what personnel is responsible for knowing the code cart. do you have a code team?

[minurse]

The hospital I currently work in is a teaching facility and needless to say, when the DR.BLUE is announced every med student, intern, and resident arrives. However, the ICU resident and intern and the primary care nurse are SUPPOSED to be the "team". In a previous life, the code team was comprised of one or two ER nurses, ICU nurse and the Attending doc. or House doc.-- this worked well--not too many heads in one place.

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

"The hospital I currently work in is a teaching facility and needless to say, when the DR.BLUE is announced every med student, intern, and resident arrives."

Yes! But why is it when you need someone to come give an order for say, morphine, you should'nt hold your breath?! I've had codes where I'm the only person left on the floor because everyone wants to cram into a 10'x20' room and be a "hero"!

The team should consist of, a resident,an intern, an ICU RN,the RN supervisor, anesthesia, pharmacy and the patient's RN. Pharmacy and the RN's should know the cart and when they arrive, pharmacy should mix meds, calculate gtts.

[goldilocksrn]

At my hospital, when a code happens, every nurse on our unit has a code assignment (defib, IV meds, suction, etc). Also, a nurse from every floor in the hospital (usually charge) is dubbed the code RN that would go to the room where the code is called. The ER doc comes to run the code. The ICU RN comes to the unit with all the paralytic agents that aren't kept in the crash cart. If the nurses from each floor aren't needed, they are told things are under control, and to go back to their units. I think it works well. Everyone has an assigned task. It is better to has staff there and not need it than to need it and not have it.

[Doey, BSN, RN]

In the community hospital where I work, on the day and evening shifts the code team consists of two RN's from either ICU/CCU/PCU/ED, (two are assigned to the code team), the supervisor,the pt's primary RN, and the ED physician. On the night shift the code team includes one RN from ICU/CCU/PCU (ED not included because there are only 3 RNs one of which is for triage), the supervisor,pt's primary nurse and ED physician. Of course on any shift any available physician also responds and respiratory therapy. Any RN on the code team is responsible for knowing the crash cart, giving and mixing meds, defibrillating, and running the code until ED doc arrives. On the day and evening shift the supervisor's main job is recording. On the night shift he/she is one of the code team RN's and the primary nurse is responsible for recording.