Charlotte-area hospitals in Carolinas HealthCare System have switched from color codes to “plain language” for emergency alerts, according to an article on the Charlotte Observer.
The goal is to reduce errors and promote safety of hospital staff, patients and visitors by using common-sense language instead of color codes that might differ from hospital to hospital
For example, some hospitals used Code Grey to refer to “a serious weather event” while others used it to mean “a very high-risk security event.”
Three codes can remain. They are: Code Red and Code Blue, which are widely recognized as alerts for a patient who requires resuscitation or immediate medical attention, and Code Pink for a child abduction.
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