Hospitals Lowering Code-Blue Incidents

By Stephen Wall, San Bernardino County Sun, Calif.

Feb. 1–LOMA LINDA — Loma Linda University Medical Center sharply reduced the number of cardiac and respiratory arrests last year thanks to a special team of emergency responders, officials said.

Since Rapid Response Teams were put in place about a year ago, the hospital has experienced a 49-percent drop in code-blue situations. The medical center’s East Campus noted a 90-percent reduction last year as a result of having the teams available.

Each Rapid Response Team consists of three people — a doctor, nurse and respiratory therapist — whose responsibility is to respond to potentially life-threatening patient emergencies that might occur in non-intensive-care units of the hospital on a 24/7 basis, 365 days per year.

A team of on-call professionals has been in place at the Loma Linda Children’s Hospital since 2005. Last year, the Children’s Hospital saw a 60-percent decline in code-blue situations, officials said.

Code-blue situations occur when a patient has stopped breathing or the patient’s heart has stopped.

“If someone starts to become acutely ill, the sooner you initiate treatment, the easier it is to turn things around and get the patient better,” said Dr. Dale Isaeff, chair of the medical center’s code-blue committee.

In addition to the response teams, the hospital is expanding the use of automatic external defibrillation units. When patients go into cardiac distress, the sooner the device can be applied, the better the prognosis for survival.

There are 127 defibrillators at the medical center, Children’s Hospital and the East Campus. Ten campus security patrol cars soon will carry the devices, officials said.

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton also has a rapid assessment team that responds in less than five minutes to noncritical-care patients who show an immediate need for intervention.

Code-blue incidents decreased 18 percent at Arrowhead Regional since the team was put in place in 2007 compared with the previous year, said Holly Ramos, the medical center’s associate administrator of professional services.

“For the short time they’ve been operating, that’s a significant decrease,” Ramos said.

Arrowhead Regional is equipped with 82 defibrillators throughout its facility, officials said.

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