![]() Code BlackĬode Black indicates a bomb threat. Be sure not to confuse this with a Silver Alert, which some cities, including New York, use when there are missing seniors in imminent danger due to severe cognitive impairments or urgent need of medical care. Code SilverĬode Silver alerts hospital staff to a person with a weapon and/or active shooter and/or hostage situation. Typically, the code announcement also includes which emergency operations plan should be activated. Some hospitals use it to alert the arrival of patients from a mass casualty event while others use it to denote a missing high-risk patient. ![]() Code GreenĬode Green seems to be the most wavering code, but overall, it indicates the hospital is activating an emergency operations plan. While it also denotes a combative or aggressive person at some hospitals, at most, it means a call for medical decontamination, typically due to a hazardous fluids spill, like chemicals or patient blood. It is also typically accompanied by a description of the dangerous person(s) and their location. Code GrayĬode Gray indicates a combative or aggressive person, requiring security personnel. Code PinkĬode Pink is similar to Code Purple but denotes an infant abduction. The code is often accompanied by additional information, including what they were wearing, where they were last seen, who they were last seen with, etc. In most cases, the hospital will go on lockdown during the search for the child to ensure no one leaves the building with them. Related: Hospital Assaults Hit All-Time High in 2020, IAHSS Survey Finds Code PurpleĬode Purple means a missing child or child abduction. This is demonstrated in the chart below from IHA’s report. It is important to note that while there is significant agreement among the 10 color code systems we’ll address in this article, there is no national standard for emergency color codes, leading to inconsistencies among standard systems that are used by each state. Other healthcare worker organizations that recommend the use of plain language include 12 different state hospital associations, patient safety organizations and healthcare worker organizations have recommended the use of plain language for hospital emergencies, including the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA), the American Hospital Association, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Incident Management System (NIMS), the Institute of Medicine, the Joint Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 2020, at least 25 state hospital associations recommend plain language alerts, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin. When this article was originally published, six fewer states had recommended color code standardization, demonstrating the growing realization of its importance.Īs of Jan. According to a January 2020 report from the Iroquois Healthcare Association (IHA), other states that recommend color code standardization include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. ![]() Three years later, Maryland mandated that all acute hospitals in the state have uniform codes. Related: A Veteran Nurse’s Valiant Quest to Stop Hospital Workplace Violence At the time of this incident, in California hospitals, 47 different codes were used for infant abduction and 61 were used for a combative person. Code Gray, which typically means a combative person, was announced, drawing staff members toward the shooter. In 2000, the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) released a handbook, “ Healthcare Emergency Codes: A Guide for Code Standardization,” strongly urging a uniform code system after three people were killed in a shooting incident after the wrong emergency code was called. This potential for confusion has led many states to adopt standardized codes for all hospitals. Hospital emergency codes have often varied widely by location - even within hospitals in the exact same community. These emergency codes allow trained hospital personnel to respond quickly and appropriately to various incidents. Hospitals often use color codes to alert staff to an emergency or another significant event. Always check with your state’s hospital associations for the most up-to-date information. Please note that these statistics aren’t updated regularly.
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