Wisconsin Hospital Association to standardize hospital code alerts
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
July 2, 2008
The Wisconsin Hospital Association is joining 12 other states in standardizing the colors used for hospital code alerts. The move comes after many instances in which patients who transferred to different hospitals were assumed to have certain conditions because of the color of their wrist bands. Now, all hospitals will have the same standardized set of colors signifying different conditions, warnings, or risks.
The colors chosen are:
- White or clear for patient idenfication
- Yellow for fall risk
- Red for allergy
- Purple for a "do not resuscitate" patient
Doctors working in multiple hospitals were being forced to learn different colors for different codes, creating a potential hazard. To read more, click here.
