ABSTRACT

Education regarding the code blue team has been provided in all hospitals, but the true code blue activation is rare. This study aimed to evaluate the true code blue rates and to investigate if there is a need for education regarding code blue or an additional team for reducing team efforts in hospitals.

In this cross-sectional study, the code blue reports of a secondary care hospital were retrospectively searched from the forms recorded, and a self-administered structured survey with health staff was developed to determine the knowledge level regarding code blue.

In total, code blue was activated at 123 instances. Code blue had been mostly activated from the services (n=43). Twenty-two patients had been hospitalized; 34 of patients had been admitted to ICU; 19 patients had died; and the remaining 20 patients had been externed. The overall response times were <3 minutes in all code blue cases. In total, 120 staff members participated in the self-administered structured survey. Overall, 38 participants were identified in the moderate group and 82 in the adequate awareness group. There was no significant association between demographic characteristics and the status of awareness regarding the code blue system (p>0.05).

The most significant problem is the number of inappropriate calls. To achieve a lower number of inappropriate calls, we must continue the periodic in-service basic life support training.

Keywords: Code blue, emergency code systems, health staff