Hospitals must be prepared for many emergency situations, whether it’s threats like an active shooter (code silver), mass casualties (code orange), or a bomb threat (code black). Each situation is assigned a standardized color code that is quickly communicable via the hospital public address system, pagers, and phone trees to alert staff of the situation concisely and discreetly. When a crisis strikes, though, these manual methods can be time consuming and waste valuable seconds that could be better spent ensuring the safety of staff, visitors, and patients with varying needs, especially while trying to evacuate the premises without causing a panic.
That’s where SimplyCast comes in.
Using our convenient central dashboard you can minimize the risk of miscommunication during a crisis, enforce evacuation protocols and emergency management procedures, and keep hospital stakeholders informed every step of the way. You’ll have access to powerful alerts, advanced response-based tracking, and responsive surveys, giving you the tools you need to optimize your hospital’s code black emergency response in just four easy steps.
Step 1: Create a Hospital Staff Database
Preparedness is the first key to a successful emergency response. We highly recommend having your administration staff keep a record of all your hospital staff’s up to date information (such as name, phone number, etc.) in a central contact database. This way, if a suspicious package is found, you will be able to alert the necessary staff with the press of a button and mobilize them immediately.
Step 2: Prepare Alert Message Templates
Your next step in streamlining your code black response is creating a set of alert message templates that can be deployed at a moment’s notice. Save time and keep your messages calm, concise, consistent, and clear.
It’s good to create a few different alert templates to account for any variances that may occur during a code black, as well as a final “all clear” notification to be sent once the situation has been resolved. For best results, make sure each alert contains all the necessary information for responding to the emergency, such as gathering locations for staff and patients, where backup evacuation zones are if the usual routes are blocked or unsafe, areas of the hospital that are off-limits for safety, and any precautionary measures that should be taken.
Step 3: Mobilize Staff
Your hospital is now prepared to react immediately in the event of a code black.
-
If a suspicious package is discovered or a credible threat is made, your administration team can instantly notify staff and stakeholders over multiple communication channels (such as email, SMS, and by phone) with the press of a button, allowing your staff to get your patients and themselves to safety that much faster.
-
During this phase, your administration staff might also trigger live surveys: a real-time data-gathering feature that will allow you to secure locations for intensive care patients while you resolve the situation.
-
Hospital staff who receive the code black alert should begin evacuation protocol and send status updates whenever they finish evacuating their designated areas, such as head counts for administrators to check against their records, and any hazards they discover.
-
Administration staff should monitor these responses via the command hub and can adapt their tactics in real time to stay one step ahead of the situation. Good communication in a crisis can prevent the emergency from evolving into a more dangerous event.
-
Once the bomb threat has been investigated, administration staff can send another notification to inform all staff and shareholders that the situation has been resolved. They can also inform the hospitals housing their critical care patients that it is safe for them to return.
Step 4: Review Responsiveness Report
The digital emergency response solution will automatically generate a report with everything you need to know about the code black event, such as the alerts that were sent, the open rate, click-through rate, and who acknowledged the alerts and when.
These reports will help you measure the effectiveness of your code black emergency strategy and provide you with helpful insights into where you can improve, ensuring your team can be ready no matter what.
Still wondering how your hospital can improve its code black emergency response?
SimplyCast provides scalable software that is fully customizable to meet any hospital’s requirements. Your safety, your way. Reach out today about our contact management and mass notification tools to see if they’re right for you. Why not book a one-on-one demo with an experienced member of our team? Just click the button below to get in touch.
If you’re interested in finding out more about what SimplyCast’s tools can do, check out our other blogs; we cover a vast range of color code emergencies within the hospital code system (such as code red for fire, code blue for cardiac, and code orange for mass casualty emergencies), and even non-emergency hospital solutions such as bed management.
Why SimplyCast?
SimplyCast is an ISO 27001:2013-certified company with data centers in the USA and Canada. Our secure server ensures protection of your confidential data and any messages you transmit with our system are completely encrypted. Most importantly, we have a 99.5% minimum uptime.
The SimplyCast platform has the capacity to send 100,000+ messages every hour and allows 10,000+ concurrent sessions, with the freedom to acquire additional gateways and servers as needed. Our fully scalable, no-code technology keeps you in control, allowing full customization of our services even without coding experience.
With our solution, you have peace of mind.
Updated May 2024
