Watching enough medical dramas will teach any non-healthcare professional that hospitals use various color “codes” to announce emergencies over the intercom. Medical professionals who have to treat these announcements very seriously instead of part of a relaxing evening in front of the television, they are a shorthand that lets everyone know about a crisis situation without disturbing or scaring everyone else who hears them.
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Color codes in hospitals
While color codes are a universal way to inform hospital staff about different situations, there is no global standardization when it comes to matching colors with emergencies. Here are some of the most commonly used color-coded announcements in U.S. hospitals and what they mean:
- Code Black – Bomb threat
- Code Blue – A respirator has stopped working, someone’s heart has stopped or they are no longer breathing
- Code Red – There is a fire somewhere in the building
- Code Silver – A person with a weapon
- Code White – A situation caused by someone’s violent or aggressive behavior
- Code Clear – We’re cheating on this one a bit since ‘clear’ is obviously not a color, used when the situation has been resolved
Obviously, these different situations call for different reactions, ranging from evacuation of the building to sending security to calling for a quick response from a medical team. However, they do all share one thing in common, no matter what the response — doing it quickly.
That’s where an IoT-powered solution can help. A staff equipped with smart, wearable technology can relay information, respond, and help with the evacuations much faster in situations where every second counts.
If you would like to discover how you can get to “Code Clear” much faster while avoiding more serious issues along the way, reach out to our sales team and discover what IoT solutions from Kontakt.io can do for your healthcare facility.
