1. Ems Dispatch Codes
2. Suffolk County Ems Protocols
3. Suffolk County P25

Apr 15, 2014  Jul 14, 2005 at 11:33am. Lastly there are special codes. 111 Location (what's your 111?) All vehicles have names rather than numbers. Any designation of American and then a # is a supervisor. Zeus- Responding 24, Code 1 401 W. For the 10-45, 17 enroute.

The emergency services in various countries use systems of response codes to categorize their responses to reported events. One of the best known is the Code 3 Response, which is used in several countries, particularly the United States, to describe a mode of response for an emergency vehicle responding to a call. It is commonly used to mean 'use lights and siren'.

• 2Other countries
  • 2.2Australia

Alternative terminology[edit]

In some agencies, Code 3 is also called a Hot Response. Code 1 is also called a Cold Response.^[1]

Some slang may be used, such as 'Running Hot', or 'Running Cold'.

Some departments may use the terms 'upgrade' and 'downgrade' as well. If a unit is responding to a call without lights or sirens (code 1), and the unit later needs to turn on lights and sirens (code 3), the term upgrade may be used. The term downgrade may be used in the opposite situation.

A similar variation is to 'reduce' or 'increase code.' For example, if there is a code 3 response to a situation, but the first units on scene have sufficient control of the situation, they may announce over the radio that responding units may 'reduce code.' In this example, to 'reduce code' would mean to continue responding, but at code 2, rather than discontinue altogether; to alert units to discontinue altogether—e.g., because the suspect is in custody or there are already enough officers on scene—they would likely say they are 'code 4.'

Some Paramedic/EMS agencies use Priority terms:

• Priority 1 - Dead On Arrival Trauma/CPR
• Priority 2 - Emergency
• Priority 3 - Non- Emergency
• Priority 4 - Situation Under Control
• Priority 5 - Mass Casualty

Other countries[edit]

United Kingdom[edit]

The use of lights and sirens is up to the individual police officer driving to the call. The nature of the call is an aggravating factor when deciding when to use them. Calls are graded by either the control room direct (in the case of emergency calls) or by some sort of first contact centre (nonemergency calls). Grading is effected by such factors as the use or threat of violence at the incident being reported. Even though the grading is done by the control room, officers can request an incident be upgraded if they feel in their judgement they are needed immediately. They can also request to downgrade an incident if they feel they cannot justify using emergency equipment like blue lights and sirens.

There is no nationally agreed call grading system with a number of different systems being used across the UK and attendance times given the grade varies between forces, depending on how rural the county is. For example, Suffolk Constabulary break down Grade A emergencies into further sub-categories of Grade A Urban and Rural, with Urban attendance times attracting a 15-minute arrival time and Grade A Rural attendance would attract a 20-minute arrival time. Some of these are listed below but is not exhaustive.^[2]

Grade	Meaning	Audible and visible emergency equipment	Target time
A	Immediate response call	Use advisable	8 minutes
B	Significant call, routine call	Can be used if driver thinks police are needed immediately	20 minutes
C	extended call, Scheduled appointments	Not to be used	No time limit
D	Non-attendance	Not to be used	Non-attendance
Resolved	Non-attendance	Not to be used	Call is resolved at point of contact.

Another variant in use within the UK.

Grade	Meaning	Audible and visible emergency equipment
IM	Immediate Priority	Normally used, examples of incidents graded as an immediate priority include incidents in which life is at risk, there is serious injury (or risk of), serious road traffic collisions, and where serious crime is in-progress or has just taken place.
H	High Priority	Normally used - incidents graded high are of serious nature and have the potential to develop into immediate priority incidents
N	Normal Priority	Not used - incidents are graded as normal that do not depend upon a timely police response.
L	Low Priority	Not used - incidents graded as low that do not depend upon a timely police response and may be resolved by phone or pre-arranged appointment.
NA	Non-attendance	Not used, no police attendance required.

A numerical grading system is used in some forces.^{[3][not in citation given]}

Grade	Meaning	Audible and visible emergency equipment
1	Emergency response	Road traffic exemptions usually utilised as is audible and visual warning equipment.
2	Urgent response	Road traffic exemptions may be utilised along with audible and visual warning equipment.
3	Non-urgent response	Audible and visual warning equipment is not used.
4	Appointments	Audible and visual warning equipment is not used.
5	For information only	Calls not usually requiring police attendance that may be logged for information only.

Ambulance responses in the UK are as follows. Some ambulance services allow driver discretion for Category 3/4 calls; this may be dependent on the type of call or how long it has been waiting for a response for. 999 calls to the ambulance service are triaged using either the NHS Pathways system or the Medical Priority Dispatch System.

Grade	Meaning	Audible and visible emergency equipment	Type of call	Initial response target	Response details
Category 1	Immediate Life Threat	Always used	Cardiac arrests, Choking?, Unconscious, Continuous seizure, Not alert after a fall or trauma, Allergic reaction with breathing problems, Major Incidents	7 min	Response time measured with arrival of first emergency responder Will be attended by single responders and ambulance crews
Category 2	Emergency	Always used	Stroke patients, Fainting – not alert, Chest pain, Road Traffic Collisions, Major burns, Sepsis	18 min	Response time measured with arrival of transporting vehicle
Category 3	Urgent	Usually used (service policy dependent)	Falls, Fainting – now alert, Diabetic problems, Isolated limb fractures, Abdominal pain	120 min	Response time measured with arrival of transporting vehicle
Category 4	Less Urgent	No	Diarrhoea, Vomiting, Non-traumatic back pain, Health Care Professional admission	180 min	Maybe managed through hear and treat Response time measured with arrival of transporting vehicle
GP Urgent	Urgent response	Not usually used	GP urgent admissions to hospital. Urgent interhospital transfers	1–4 hours or scheduled timeframe, decided by admitting HCP

The use of flashing lights and sirens is colloquially known as blues and twos which refers to the blue lights and the two-tone siren once commonplace (although most sirens now use a range of tones). In the UK, only blue lights are used to denote emergency vehicles (although other colours may also be used as sidelights, stop indicators, etc.). A call-out requiring the use of lights and sirens is often colloquially known as a blue light run.

Australia[edit]

Victoria[edit]

Ambulance Victoria The information provided to Ambulance Victoria at the time of the triple zero call generates a case type and ambulance response code depending on the severity of the emergency.

There are three types of ambulance response:

Code 1: A time critical case with a lights and sirens ambulance response. An example is a cardiac arrest or serious traffic accident.

Code 2: An acute but non-time critical response. The ambulance does not use lights and sirens to respond. An example of this response code is a broken leg.

Code 3: A non-urgent routine case. These include cases such as a person with ongoing back pain but no recent injury.

Source: http://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/About-Us/How-we-work/In-a-Medical-Emergency/Response-Codes.html

Please note additional codes are used, but these are for internal purposes.

Country Fire AuthorityThere are two types of response for the Country Fire Authority which cover the outer Melbourne Area. These are similar to those used by Ambulance Victoria, minus the use of Code 2.

Code 1: A time critical event with response requiring lights and siren. This usually is a known and going fire or a rescue incident.

Code 2: Unused within the Country Fire Authority

Code 3: Non-urgent event, such as a previously extinguished fire or community service cases (such as animal rescue or changing of smoke alarm batteries for the elderly).

New South Wales[edit]

Marine Rescue NSW

Code 1 Urgent Response - Use warning devices

Code 2 Semi Urgent Response - Use of Warning devices at skippers discretion

Code 3 Non Urgent Response - Warning Devices not needed

Code 4 Training - No Warning devices to be used unless specifically needed for training

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service and the New South Wales State Emergency Service use two levels of response, depending on what the call-out is and what has been directed of the crew attending the incident by orders of the duty officer:

• Proceed: To drive to an incident, without displaying lights and/or sirens and to obey all road rules.
• Respond: To drive to an incident, urgently but safely, whilst displaying lights and/or sirens. Drivers are exempt from the road traffic act with some conditions^[6], however both organisations have policies imposing further restrictions.. The siren can be switched off at the discretion of the driver when it is not needed (for example, when the road ahead is clear of traffic and easily visible) and reactivated at possible traffic hazards.

The New South Wales Police Force uses two distinct classifications for responding to incidents. In order to respond 'code red' a driver must be suitably trained and have qualified in appropriate police driver training courses.^[7]

• Code Red: Vehicle responding with lights and sirens activated.
• Code Blue: Vehicle responding without lights or sirens activated.

South Australia[edit]

SA Ambulance Service use a Priority system.

Priority	Case Type	Lights & Sirens Used	Crew Type
1	Emergency	Yes	Emergency (Paramedic or Intensive Care Paramedic)
2	Emergency	Yes	Emergency (Paramedic or Intensive Care Paramedic)
4	Urgent	No	Emergency (Paramedic or Intensive Care Paramedic)
5	Urgent	No	Emergency Support Service (Ambulance Officer)
6	Routine	No	Emergency (Paramedic or Intensive Care Paramedic)
7	Routine	No	Emergency Support Service (Ambulance Officer)
8	Routine	No	Patient Transport Service (Ambulance Officer)

Note: Priorities 0 and 3 have been reserved for future use. Priority 9 is used for administration taskings.

The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, Country Fire Service and South Australian State Emergency Service use a Priority System which has been recently updated.

Priority	Type	Local Event Triage	Lights & Sirens Used	Response
1	Emergency	Can't wait	Yes	Multiple Units Sent, Life-Threat
2	Urgent	Can Wait	No	Single Unit Responded, Potential for Life-Threat
3	Routine	Will Wait	No	Used Primarily by SES, No risk of Life Threat

Ems Dispatch Codes

All calls are routed through the Metropolitan Fire Service (Call Sign 'Adelaide Fire') including State Emergency Service 132 500 calls.

During significant weather events the State Communication Centre (SCC) unit of the SES take over call taking responsibly. This operations centre is manned by volunteers routing calls for assistance to the closest unit who will dispatch the events to individual teams.

Queensland[edit]

Queensland Police uses the priority system;
Code 1 - Immediate risk of death to a person. Proceed lights and sirens. Permission granted to disobey road rules.
Code 2 - Immediate risk of serious injury to a person or damage to property. Proceed lights and sirens. Permission granted to disobey road rules.
Code 3 - Routine job. Proceed without lights or siren. Road rules must be obeyed.
Code 4 - Negotiated response time. Proceed without lights or siren. Road rules must be obeyed.
For Queensland Police code 1 and code 2 are exactly the same response time. Rarely will a job be given a priority code 1, instead officers will (in most cases) be told to respond code 2.

Northern Territory[edit]

St John Ambulance Northern Territory uses terms to determine the response.^[8]

Emergency or Non-Emergency. Emergency can be broken down into Life-threatening or Non-life-threatening.
Emergency: Life-threatening - Respond lights and sirens
Emergency:Non-life-threatening - Respond without lights and sirens
Non Emergency: Respond without lights and sirens

Western Australia[edit]

St John Ambulance Western Australia uses the following codes to determine a response.^[9]
Priority 1 represents an Emergency call. (Response time target is to attend to 90% of emergency calls within 15 minutes)
Priority 2 represents an Urgent call. Use of lights authorised and siren allowed only when passing through heavy traffic and clearing intersections. (Response time target is to attend to 90% of urgent calls within 25 minutes)
Priority 3 represents a Non-urgent call. (response time target is to attend to 90% of non-urgent calls within 60 minutes) ..

The Western Australian Police uses the following codes from 1 to 7 to determine response actions.
Priority 1 is an emergency call. Lights and siren authorised. An example of a Priority 1 call would be an armed holdup call, or an officer down.
Priority 2 is a less urgent emergency call. Lights and siren authorised, but follow basic traffic rules. An example of a Priority 2 call is a serious shots fired or officer in trouble/officer requires urgent assistance
Priority 3 is an urgent call, lights and siren authorised, but follow basic traffic and road rules.
Priority 4 is a less urgent call. Lights and siren authorised but follow more advanced traffic rules and the speed limit.
Priority 5, 6, and 7 is a standard call. No lights or siren authorised and follow all traffic rules.

Possible shift to plain language[edit]

In the U.S. the National Incident Management System (NIMS) states 'it is required that plain language be used for multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction and multi-discipline events, such as major disasters and exercises' and federal grants became contingent on this beginning fiscal year 2006.^[10] NIMS also strongly encourages the use of plain language for internal use within a single agency.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Sources:
   San Francisco (CA) EMS Agency 0905 Policy Manual [1],
   Saratoga (NY) EMS Dispatch Changes [2],
   Amherst (NY) Annual 2005 Memo [3],
   Middletown (CT) EMD [4].
2. ^Head of CCR (Norfolk); CCR Chief Inspector (Suffolk) (25 July 2016). 'CCR Call Grading Policy'(PDF). Policy No. 81. Norfolk & Suffolk Constabulary. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
3. ^'Scottish Policing Performance Framework'. gov.scot. Scottish Government. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
4. ^https://www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/arp/
5. ^NHS England. 'NHS England » New ambulance standards'. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
6. ^NSW Road Rules 2014 Section 306
7. ^http://ten.com.au/recruits-the-police.htm
8. ^http://www.stjohnnt.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94&Itemid=262
9. ^https://www.ambulance.net.au/content.asp?id=166
10. ^NIMS Integration Center. 'NIMS AND USE OF PLAIN LANGUAGE'. (2006). Accessed 14 May 2008.

Hospital emergency codes are used in hospitals worldwide to alert staff to various emergencies. The use of codes is intended to convey essential information quickly and with minimal misunderstanding to staff, while preventing stress and panic among visitors to the hospital. These codes may be posted on placards throughout the hospital, or printed on employee identification badges for ready reference.

Hospital emergency codes may denote different events at different hospitals, including those in the same community. Because many physicians work at more than one facility, this may lead to confusion in emergencies, so uniform systems have been proposed.

Colour code standardization

• Australia:
  • Australian hospitals and other buildings are covered by Australian Standard 4083 (1997) and many are in the process of changing to those standards.^[1]
• Canada:
  • Codes used in British Columbia, prescribed by the British Columbia Ministry of Health:^[2]
    • Code Red: Fire
    • Code Blue: Cardiac Arrest
    • Code Orange: Disaster or Mass Casualties
    • Code Green: Evacuation
    • Code Yellow: Missing Patient
    • Code Amber: Missing or Abducted Infant or Child
    • Code Black: Bomb Threat
    • Code White: Aggression
    • Code Brown: Hazardous Spill
    • Code Grey: System Failure
    • Code Pink: Pediatric Emergency and/or Obstetrical Emergency
  • In Ontario, a standard emergency response code set by the Ontario Hospital Association is used, with minor variations for some hospitals:^[3][4][5]
    • Code Black: Bomb Threat/Suspicious Object
    • Code Blue: Cardiac Arrest/Medical Emergency – Adult
    • Code Brown: In-facility Hazardous Spill
    • Code Green: Evacuation (Precautionary)
      • Code Green STAT: Evacuation (Crisis)
    • Code Grey: Infrastructure Loss or Failure
      • Code Grey Button-down: External Air Exclusion
    • Code Orange: Disaster
      • Code Orange CBRN: CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) Disaster
    • Code Pink: Cardiac Arrest/Medical Emergency – Infant/Child
    • Code Purple: Hostage Taking
    • Code Red: Fire
    • Code White: Violent/Behavioural Situation
    • Code Yellow: Missing Person
      • Code Amber (code purple): Missing Child/Child Abduction
  • The various emergency preparedness services of the health regions in Alberta have also begun to discuss standardization of their colour code systems.
• United States:
  • In 2000, the Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC)^[6][7] determined that a uniform code system is needed after 'three persons were killed in a shooting incident at an area medical center after the wrong emergency code was called.' While codes for fire (red) and medical emergency (blue) were similar in 90% of California hospitals queried, 47 different codes were used for infant abduction and 61 for combative person. In light of this, HASC published a handbook titled 'Healthcare Facility Emergency Codes: A Guide for Code Standardization' listing various codes and has strongly urged hospitals to voluntarily implement the revised codes.
  • In 2003, Maryland mandated that all acute hospitals in the state have uniform codes.^[8]
  • In 2008, the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems, Oregon Patient Safety Commission, and Washington State Hospital Association formed a taskforce to standardize emergency code calls under the leadership of the Dr. Lawrence Schecter, Chief Medical Officer, Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.^[9] After both states had conducted a survey from all hospital members, the taskforce found many hospitals used the same code for fire (code Red); however, there were tremendous variations existed for codes representing respiratory and cardiac arrest, infant and child abduction, and combative person. After deliberations and decisions, the taskforce suggested the following as the Hospital Emergency Code:^[10]
    • Code Blue: Heart or Respiration Stops (An adult, child, or infant’s heart has stopped or they are not breathing.)
    • Code Red: Fire
    • Code Orange: Hazardous Spills (A hazardous material spill or release; Unsafe exposure to spill.)
    • Code Silver: Weapon or Hostage Situation
    • Code Grey: Combative Person (Combative or abusive behavior by patients, families, visitors, staff or physicians) If a weapon is involved “CODE SILVER” should be called.
    • Amber Alert: Infant/ Child Abduction
    • Internal Triage: Internal Emergency (Internal emergency in multiple departments including: Bomb or bomb threat; Computer network down; Major plumbing problems; and Power or telephone outage.)
    • External Triage: External Disaster (External emergencies impacting hospital including: Mass casualties; Severe weather; Massive power outages; and Nuclear, biological, and chemical accidents)
    • Rapid Response Team: Medical Team Needed at Bedside (A patient’s medical condition is declining and needs an emergency medical team at the bedside) Prior to heart or respiration stopping
    • Code Clear: Announced when emergency is over

Codes by color

Note: Different codes are used in different hospitals.

Code Blue

Cardiac arrest

'Code Blue' is generally used to indicate a patient requiring resuscitation or 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 anesthesia and internal medicine in larger medical centers or the Emergency physician in smaller ones), 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 Center in Kansas City, Kansas.^[11] 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^[1]
• Californian Standard^[6]

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'.^[12] Such practices are ethically controversial,^[13] and are banned in some jurisdictions.

Variations

Suffolk County Ems Protocols

• '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 ER for evaluation could be fatal; the 'Plan Blue' was called out to alert the surgeon on call to go immediately to the ER entrance and take the patient for immediate surgery. This was illustrated in an episode of Trauma: Life in the ER, entitled 'West Side Stories'.

'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 Doctor Firestone, third floor,' to indicate a possible fire in the location specified. 'Paging Dr. Stork' normally indicates that a woman is in labor and needs immediate assistance.

'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 'Resus' [ri:səs] codes. These codes indicate the type of emergency (general medical, trauma, cardiopulmonary or neurological) and type of patient (adult or pediatric). 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 stabilization and treatment.

Codes by emergency

Active assailant

• Code Silver: Providence Medical Center Kansas City, Kansas^[14]

Bomb threat

• Code Black: UnityPoint Health (Formerly known as Iowa Health System)
• Code Yellow: HASC^[15]
• Code Yellow: Reported Bomb Threat (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code 10: Stanford University Medical Center (old system), Scripps Healthcare San Diego
• Code Black: Standard government reporting code. Markham Stouffville Hospital, University of Chicago Medicine, Ohio State University Medical Center, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario hospitals, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital.
• Code Blue: Some schools in Western New York and in schools in Volusia County, Florida
• Code 100: Heartland Regional Medical Center
• Code Purple: by Telephone, Mail, Person on Site. Australian Standard
• Code Orange: Oakwood Healthcare
• Code B: Superstition Mountain Mental Health Center (SMMHC, Inc.)
• Code Grey: Bronson Methodist Hospital
• Alert Blue: Health Partners Regions Hospital
• Code White: Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City, OK
• Operation 005: Baptist Health Floyd, New Albany, IN

Cardio-respiratory arrest

• Code Blue (Child) – Cardio-Respiratory Arrest Age >30 days to 13 years in Ontario^[5]
• Code Pink – Cardio-Respiratory Arrest Neonatal Age <30 days in Ontario^[5]
• Code Blue: Cardio-respiratory arrest or medical emergency for Adult (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code Pink – Used as cardiac arrest in an infant at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton.
• Code White-Neonatal: Cardio-respiratory arrest or medical emergency for <28 days (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code White-Pediatric: Cardio-respiratory arrest or medical emergency for >28 days (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code 2-Pediatric: Pediatric cardio-respiratory arrest (Health Partners Regions Hospital)
• Code 2-Adult: Adult cardio-respiratory arrest (Health Partners Regions Hospital)
• Code 25: Respiratory Distress. (Houston, Texas).^[17] Number codes are used instead of color codes to prevent curious non-essential people from cluttering the halls near the emergency area and delaying care.
• Medical Team/Pediatric Medical Team – Cardio-Respiratory arrest in an adult/child (South Nassau Communities Hospital, Oceanside, NY)
• Code 10: cardio pulmonary arrest
• Cardiac Alert: cardio pulmonary arrest (Hartford Hospital, Connecticut)
• Dr Quick: cardio pulmonary arrest (New Britain General, Connecticut)
• '99': Cardiopulmonary Arrest (Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA)
• CPR Team: cardiopulmonary arrest (Beaumont Health, Detroit, MI)

Child abduction/missing person

• Amber Alert and Code Adam, both well-known public announcements to denote missing or abducted children, have gained traction in hospital usage since 2000. Used at Miami Valley Hospital.
• Code Pink can denote child or infant abduction. Used at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Carolinas Healthcare System in North Carolina, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Winchester Hospital in Winchester, Massachusetts, Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, CA, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle Children's. Included in HASC recommendation for Infant Abduction.
• Code Purple was sometimes also used for Child Abduction when Code Pink is specifically for infant abduction. Included in HASC recommendation for Child Abduction.
• Code Gold: Calgary Health Region
• Code Amber: Alberta health regions and Ontario
• Code Nap: Used at some rural Iowa hospitals.
• Code Rainbow: University of California at Davis Medical Center
• Code Stork: Health Partners Regions Hospital
• Code Black: Heartland Regional Medical Center
• Code Purple: UnityPoint Health (Formerly known as Iowa Health System)
• Code Walker (Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon) for a cognitively impaired individual who has wandered away from a clinical area.
• Code Yellow – Missing Patient/Infant Abduction in Ontario
• Code Alert: Infant Abduction Baptist Health Floyd, New Albany, IN

Combative person/assault

• Code Green: UnityPoint Health (Formerly known as Iowa Health System)
• Code North: Stanford University Medical Center
• Code Gray: Angry/Violent patient or visitor (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code Grey: Combative Person with no weapon (HASC)
• Code Silver: Combative Person with a weapon (HASC)
• Code Black: Personal Attack (Australian Standard Code)
• Code White: Violent Patient (Markham Stouffville Hospital), Quebec and Ontario
• Code Atlas: Virginia Healthcare System
• Security Stat: Heartland Regional Medical Center
• 'Mr. or Dr. Strong' to (location), at other hospitals (Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY – Also Code 5)
• 'Dr. Heavy' to (location), at other hospitals (Nassau University Medical Center, Nassau, NY, Mather Hospital, Suffolk, NY)
• 'Dr. Armstrong' to (location), at other hospitals
• Code Yellow: Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
• Yellow Alert: Health Partners Regions Hospital
• Code 21: University of Minnesota Medical Center
• Code Violet: Nationwide Children's Hospital, Miami Valley Hospital
• Code Purple: Seattle Children's
• Code Secure: Security needed to deal with a combative patient or family member.

Evacuation

• Code White: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in U.S
• Code Orange: Australian Standard.
• Code Green: Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City, OK
• Code Green: Quebec and Ontario
• Under the HASC Emergency Code System, evacuation would be included in an Emergency Alert, Code Triage.

Fire

• Usually Code Red.
  • Australian Standard.^[1]
  • California Standard.^[6]
  • Joint Commission standard.
  • Ontario Hospital Association colour code standard^[5]
  • Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital
  • Dr. Red Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
  • El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA^[16]
  • Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Oregon
  • Long Grass Health Partners Regions Hospital
• Sometimes Dr. Red, Dr. Pyro, or Dr. Firestone.
• Sometimes 'Evacuation Bell'
• Code F (University of Michigan Hospitals)
• Red Alert (Beaumont Health, Detroit, MI)

Hazardous materials spill/release/decontamination

• Code Orange: Nationwide Children's Hospital, El Camino Hospital (Mountain View, CA), Seattle Children's
• Code Brown: Ontario

Hostage situation

• Code Silver – Person with a weapon / hostage situation (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code Purple – Hostage in Ontario^[5]
• Code Siege – Carilion Clinic Hospitals

Internal disaster

• Code Green: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
• Code Grey: University Health Network, Toronto
• Code Yellow: Stanford University Medical Center (old system), Australian Standard, Mercy Hospital (Oklahoma City, OK)
• Code Triage – Internal: HASC, El Camino Hospital,Mountain View, CA^[16]
• Code Orange: Hazardous Materials spill (El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA)^[16]
• Code 4: Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
• Code Alert sometimes denotes disaster.
• Code Brown – Internal Crisis / Hazardous Spill in Ontario / e.g. Sewer backup and overflow .
• Dr. Whitestone: Internal Disaster Baptist Health Floyd, New Albany, IN

Lockdown/limited access

• Lima Delta: UnityPoint Health (Formerly known as Iowa Health System)
• Code Orange: Ontario Used in Ontario hospitals to indicate an external disaster with mass casualties, CBRNE and Pandemic. Lockdown or controlled facility access is often used as part of the response. Volunteers, Families and Students were denied access during SARS Outbreak of 2003.
• Code Red: Most commonly used by schools to indicate that a dangerous and/or harmful person is on campus.
• Code Silver:Carilion Clinic Hospitals
• Code Yellow (Fort Pierce, Florida)

Mass-casualty incident / external disaster

• Code Brown

An Australian standard code used to describe any outside of the hospital incident such as loss of power, communications, a natural disaster (such as flood or bushfire) that threatens to overwhelm or disrupt a hospital or health service capability with large numbers of casualties.^[18]

• Code Yellow: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Nationwide Children's Hospital
• 'MASCAL' may also be used
• Code 10, Code 20, or Code 99: Heartland Regional Medical Center, Brookdale Hospital
• Code Orange: Calgary Health Region, Quebec and Ontario
• Code Triage: Scripps Healthcare San Diego; Hoag Hospital Newport Beach; Seton Medical Center, Daly City, California; El Camino Hospital, Mountain View, CA.^[16]
• Code 1000: Fletcher Allen Medical Center; Burlington, VT
• Code Orange: Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital
• Code Orange: Cheyenne Regional Medical Center
• Orange Alert: Health Partners Regions Hospital
• Code 7: Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY (aka External Disaster)
• Mr. Victor Charlie: MVC-Multiple Vehicle Collision, Ottawa Emergency Services and First Responders (prepare for Code Orange)
• Dr. Redstone: External Disaster Baptist Health Floyd, New Albany, IN

Other patient emergencies

• Code Brain: Possible stroke or CVA patient: Used by many facilities with stroke center certification to indicate for critical care nurses and doctors to respond as well as for CT scan techs and radiologists to be ready to scan and read.
• Code Heart: Used to indicate a patient who is experiencing an acute cardiac event such as an MI. Code Heart is generally used to assemble a team of critical care nurses and doctors to stabilize the patient as well as mobilizing a cath lab team if necessary.
• Code Rapid Response: Used in many facilities with a rapid response system in place to call for response by a rapid response team: generally made up of nurses, respiratory therapists, lab techs and sometimes doctors who respond to a patients bedside and intervene to prevent a patient from escalating to Code Blue. Code Rapid Response is generally called when there is a change in the patients mental status or vital signs as well as when a patient begins seizing. In most facilities with a rapid response team in place, the code can be called by anyone such as concerned staff member or family member.
• Code Sepsis: This code is called whenever there is a patient who is in or is in danger of entering septic shock.

Severe weather

• Code Brown: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
• Code Black: Mercy Health Center (Oklahoma City); Norman Regional Hospital (Norman); Denton Regional Medical Center; Iowa Health System (Severe Warning); Parkland Hospital (Dallas)^[19]
• Code Gray: Cook Children's Medical Center, Fort Worth, TX; Iowa Health System (Severe Watch); St. John's Regional Medical Center, Joplin, MO; Miami Valley Hospital (Tornado Warning)
• Code Yellow: Heartland Regional Medical Center
• Code Green: Schools in Volusia County, Florida
• Code White: schools in Morgan County, West Virginia
• Code Purple: Musselman High school in Inwood, West Virginia

Theft/armed robbery

• Code Amber: Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center; New Jersey Hospital Association

Total divert

Suffolk County P25

• A status sometimes called 'Critical Care Bypass' (Ontario),^[20] 'Total Divert', 'triage situation', 'Saturation Alert' or 'High Occupancy' (University of Michigan Health System).
• Generally used by hospitals as a status indicator for EMS/ambulance services denoting that the issuing ER/trauma facility has reached maximum patient capacity and should not receive any more new patients if at all possible.
• A variation on 'Total Divert', called 'Bypass', is used at many U.S. hospitals to indicate emergency facilities at or over maximum capacity; this variation was featured in the 'Road Warriors' episode of Trauma: Life in the E.R.. As explained by a trauma nurse in the episode, the status change does not always keep new patients from arriving.
• Can be denoted as Code Purple or Code Yellow in some hospitals.
• The Joint Commission status is called 'on diversion' (for a class of patients) and 'total diversion' (not receiving any patient), referring to diversionary contracts required by EMTALA.

Other codes

• Code Black – An influx of patients so great that a hospital doesn't have the resources to handle them (mostly caused by major disasters such as a fire injuring many victims).
• Code Omega – Life-Threatening Blood Loss. Used in Ontario^[5]
• Code Omega – (Obstetrics) Life Threatening Blood Loss in a Peri-Partum Woman. Used in Ontario^[5]
• Gold Alert – Unstable Patient(s) with Multiple System Trauma en route. Kentucky.^[17]
• Code 33 – Obstetrical Crisis in Ontario^[5]
• Code 99 – Stroke Patient (Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital)
• Incoming Code 99 – Stroke patient arriving by ambulance or helicopter (Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital)
• Trauma Alert (Level 1 or 2, or Full or Partial) – Trauma Patient(s) en route.^[17]
• Code Roscoe – Active Shooter/Armed Intruder (Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City, OK)
• Code Yellow: Standby status means the hospital has been contacted about a 'possible' incident in the community. Alert status means that the incident 'has' occurred. Used at: Miami Valley Hospital.
• Dr Gottaway: Dr Jane Gottaway/Dr Joe Gottaway – pt elopement (male vs female)
• '(service (respiratory, surgery, etc.) 25': Medical Emergency (Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)

See also

• Inspector Sands, code used over PA system in British public transport to indicate a serious situation

References

1. AS 4083-1997 Planning for emergencies-Health care facilities
2. ↑ http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/keeping-bc-healthy-safe/health-emergency-response/standardized-hospital-colour-codes.pdf
3. ↑ https://www.oha.com/Services/HealthSafety/Safety/SafetyGroup/Documents/EmergencyToolkit_Feb9[1].pdf
4. ↑ 'North York General Hospital – Emergency Preparedness'. nygh.on.ca.
5. 'Emergency Codes'. sunnybrook.ca.
6. 'LISTSERV 16.0 – Archives – Error'. buffalo.edu.
7. ↑ California Healthcare Association News Briefs July 12, 2002Vol. 35 No. 27
8. ↑ DSD.state.md.us
9. ↑ 'Standardization Emergency Codes Executive Summary'(PDF). Washington State Hospital Association. October 2008. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
10. ↑ 'Standardization Poster Emergency Code Call'(PDF). Washington State Hospital Association. January 2009. Retrieved http://www.wsha.org/wp-content/uploads/Standardization_PosterEmergencyCodeCallsAA.pdf.Check date values in: access-date= (help)
11. ↑ 'Unplugged'. google.com.
12. ↑ 'Slow Codes, Show Codes and Death'. The New York Times. 22 August 1987. Retrieved 2013-04-06.
13. ↑ DePalma, Judith A.; Miller, Scott; Ozanich, Evelyn; Yancich, Lynne M. (November 1999). ''Slow' Code: Perspectives of a Physician and Critical Care Nurse'. Critical Care Nursing Quarterly. Lippincott Williams and Wilkins. 22 (3): 89–99. doi:10.1097/00002727-199911000-00014. ISSN1550-5111.
14. ↑ Providence Medical Center April 2013
15. ↑ 'Hospital Emergency Codes – Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC)'. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
16. http://facultyfiles.deanza.edu/gems/oneillpatricia/ECHClinicalStudentOrientatio.pdf
17. 'Code Red/Code Blue/Code whatever....what do you have/what are they for?'. allnurses.com.
18. ↑ http://www.grhc.org.au/document-library/doc_download/850-code-brown-template-july-2014
19. ↑ ABC News. 'Tornadoes Tear Through Dallas – ABC News'. ABC News.
20. ↑ 'Emergency department overcrowding: ambulance diversion and the legal duty to care'. cmaj.ca.

External links