Understanding Hospital Codes: What is Code Blue in a Hospital?
Hospitals rely on a coding system to outline emergency situations. Though hospital emergency codes can refer to a medical emergency, standardized color codes can cover a whole host of other threats like:
-
Code Silver for an active shooter.
-
Code Black for a bomb threat.
-
Code Orange for a hazardous material spill.
-
Code Amber for infant abduction.
-
Code Pink for infant cardiac arrest.
- Code Blue for a cardiac or respiratory arrest.
-
Code White for a violent or combative person.
- Code Red for a fire on the premises.
This blog will look specifically at a Code Blue situation and how SimplyCast can help maximize your staff's response during a cardiac or respiratory arrest.
Medical Alert Code Blue Procedure
A rapid response is crucial in the event of a Code Blue. Additional staff—your ‘Code Blue team’, in a sense—are usually required to assist and keep the situation under control.
The survival rate of cardiac arrest hinges on how quickly your staff can respond.
Many hospitals still use manual processes to reach on call staff individually. Though inconvenient, these methods are functional. However, they require a lot more time than hospitals have to spare in an emergency situation—especially when seconds could be the difference between life and death.
According to the American Training Association for CPR, the success rate of CPR (and the patient’s resulting chances) drop by 10% for every minute that passes, with brain damage occurring after just four minutes. Within the space of ten minutes, it’s unlikely the patient will survive. Hospitals cannot risk the chance that oncall staff cannot be reached or miss that important call.
How can emergency managers most efficiently mobilize hospital staff? With SimplyCast’s automated recall solution. Send a Code Blue alert with the click of a button and mobilize your staff immediately.
Here's an example:
A local hospital has just called a Code Blue alert for a patient. The situation must be dealt with as soon as possible and the floor is currently understaffed.
The hospital has a staff member who manually contacts on-call employees one by one. Instead of using this process, they are looking to implement an automated solution that sends out a mass notification Code Blue alert with the click of a button. After this mass message is sent out (for example, 'Emergency: Code Blue at Hospital X'), employees can quickly indicate whether they can come to work or not.
Let's see how it works!
Your New Automated Code Blue Procedure
Step 1: Staff Registry
First, build an accurate database of staff who will receive your Code Blue alert.
Staff data (such as name, job title, job responsibilities, and contact information) can be collected and updated via an online form. When each person fills out the form, their information will be stored in their profile in a central database.
For best results, make sure this database is regularly maintained and kept up to date.
Step 2: Message Templates
Next, it’s time to create your emergency message templates. Having these ready to go will let you call your medical alert Code Blue with the press of a button.
Messages for a Code Blue alert should tell employees when and where they are needed. When creating your message, include any details about the situation and any specific requests for specialized staff.
Step 3: Send Recall
Finally, it’s time for a trial run. Your staff members can choose their preferred method of communication: email, SMS, or voice (phone call). Make sure everything is working with a medical alert code blue drill; that way you know you’re ready for the real thing.
Another message can be sent once all necessary staff have responded. This will keep everyone in the loop regarding the Code Blue status and let them know when no more staff are needed.
Again, these recall messages can be sent with the click of a button, which makes them much easier and more convenient than a lengthy manual process.
Step 4: Reports
Once your Code Blue procedure is complete, automatically generated reports provide you with an overview of your emergency response, including data analytics like engagement with your messages.
These reports equip management to optimize future messages, thereby sharpening your hospital’s response to a medical alert Code Blue. Your report will show key details such as each staff member's response, who received the message, and the times at which messages were sent.
Interested in an automated code blue alert system for your hospital?
If your hospital is looking to improve its code blue emergency response process, SimplyCast has you covered.
We’ve built a solution using our contact management and recall tools that can be used for an automated staff recall process during a Code Blue situation, expediting the process and raising the in hospital cardiac arrest survival rate for your patients. Better yet, our solution is customizable and can be scaled to suit hospitals of all sizes.
Click the button below to request a one-on-one demo from our team. Let us show you how an automated staff recall process can improve efficiency in code blue situations.