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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital emergency codes | 3/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospital_emergency_codes | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T07:28:26.202116+00:00 | kb-cron |
Code white: paediatric medical emergency, combative person without a weapon, or emergency operating procedures dependent on the state. Code gold: bomb threat Code brown: missing adult patient Code violet: combative person Code triage: mass casualty Code walker: missing adult patient
==== Plain-language alerts ==== In 2015, the South Carolina Hospital Association formed a work group to develop plain language standardisation code recommendations. Abolishing all colour codes was suggested. In 2016, the Texas Hospital Association encouraged the use of standardised plain language emergency alerts at all Texas hospitals. The only colour code that was still recommended was "code blue," meaning a cardiac arrest. Plain language alerts are announced using the following format: Alert type + description + location (general to specific) + instructions (if applicable). For example, if a patient in ICU Bed 4 went into cardiac arrest, the alert would be "Medical alert + code blue + second floor + intensive care unit + bed 4." In January 2025, the Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) recommended plain-language codes, although it advised keeping the legacy colour codes of "Code Blue" and "Amber Alert." The new system, which is "strongly recommend[ed]" but not required, classifies alerts into "Facility," "Medical," and "Security" alerts.
== Codes ==
Note: Different codes are used in different hospitals.
=== Code blue ===
"Code blue” is used to indicate that a patient requires resuscitation or is in need of immediate medical attention, most often as the result of a respiratory arrest or cardiac arrest. When called overhead, the page takes the form of "Code blue, [floor], [room]" to alert the resuscitation team where to respond. Every hospital, as a part of its disaster plans, sets a policy to determine which units provide personnel for code coverage. In theory any medical professional may respond to a code, but in practice, the team makeup is limited to those with advanced cardiac life support or other equivalent resuscitation training. Frequently these teams are staffed by physicians from anaesthesia, internal medicine or emergency medicine, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, and nurses. A code team leader will be a physician in attendance on any code team; this individual is responsible for directing the resuscitation effort and is said to "run the code". This phrase was coined at Bethany Medical Centre in Kansas City, Kansas. The term "code" by itself is commonly used by medical professionals as a slang term for this type of emergency, as in "calling a code" or describing a patient in arrest as "coding" or "coded".
Australian standard Californian standard In some hospitals or other medical facilities, the resuscitation team may purposely respond slowly to a patient in cardiac arrest, a practice known as "slow code", or may fake the response altogether for the sake of the patient's family, a practice known as "show code". Such practices are ethically controversial, and are banned in some jurisdictions.
==== Variations ==== "Plan blue" was used at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City to indicate arrival of a trauma patient so critically injured that even the short delay of a stop in the A&E for evaluation could be fatal; "plan blue" was called out to alert the surgeon on call to go immediately to the A&E entrance and take the patient for immediate surgery.
=== "Doctor" codes === "Doctor" codes are often used in hospital settings for announcements over a general loudspeaker or paging system that might cause panic or endanger a patient's privacy. Most often, "doctor" codes take the form of "Paging Dr. Sinclair", where the doctor's "name" is a code word for a dangerous situation or a patient in crisis, e.g.: "Paging Dr. Firestone, third floor," to indicate a possible fire on the floor specified.
=== "Resus" codes === Specific to emergency medicine, incoming patients in immediate danger of life or limb, whether presenting via ambulance or walk-in triage, are paged locally within the emergency department as "roesus" [ri:səs] codes. These codes indicate the type of emergency (general medical, trauma, cardiopulmonary or neurological) and type of patient (adult or paediatric). An estimated time of arrival may be included, or "now" if the patient is already in the department. The patient is transported to the nearest open trauma bay or evaluation room, and is immediately attended by a designated team of physicians and nurses for purposes of immediate stabilisation and treatment.
== See also == Inspector Sands, code used over PA system in British public transport to indicate a serious situation Vessel emergency codes codes used on cruise ships.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== External links == Codes Listing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center