S
taff who need to call a code blue during an
emergent situation sometimes hesitate to
ask for help. In our hospital, nurses are edu-
cated and encouraged to call a code as soon as the
need arises. An educational program we ran called
"No Call is a Bad Call" emphasized the need for
nurses and ancillary staff to ask for backup without
hesitation. Each session began with a discussion
about proper response protocols to a code blue
before the team ran through a mock code, followed
by a debrief to discuss how it went and areas of
needed improvement. During the experience, nurs-
es practiced serving in different roles, including
team leader, recorder, vascular access/medication
RN and code cart RN. The experience gave nurses
the opportunity to interact with colleagues from dif-
ferent units who they could end up working along-
side during a real code situation. From an educa-
tor's standpoint, the session has given me vital
information and data to create focused monthly
educational topics as we continually enhance our
code blue protocols.
Rosalynn Gurrola, BSN, RN, CPAN
PIH Health Hospital
Downey, Calif.
rosalynn.gurrola@pihhealth.org
F
E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 11
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Empower Staff to Call for Help Without Hesitation
CODE BLUE PIH Health Downey Hospital's "No Call is a Bad Call" program encourages staff to call for reinforcements when a patient's life is on the line and involves a simulation man-
nequin to make the drills as realistic as possible.
Downey
Hospital