The Washington State Hospital Association hopes patients and visitors notice something when they hear an emergency call over the facility's loudspeaker: they can understand it.
The reason it would be understood is due to recent efforts by WSHA to convince state hospitals to adopt a standard plain-language system for announcing emergencies. The association recently led a statewide campaign around the initiative, in collaboration with member hospitals, according to an Oct. 8 association news release.
The change to plain language follows endorsed best practices from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Incident Management System and the CDC.
The association said the campaign aims to convince hospitals to convert emergency code calls into a standardized plain-language system. This means using plain language to announce most emergency codes instead of "color" codes.
With the change, legacy color codes that will remain in use are "code blue" for cardiac or respiratory arrest and the "AMBER alert" for a missing youth, according to the association.
New plain language codes will combine the alert type (e.g., "facility alert") with specific details (such as "fire alarm") and the location (e.g., "emergency department"), followed by any additional instructions (e.g., "evacuate"). The language "all clear" will be used to cancel most emergency events.
"WSHA previously led work to standardize hospital emergency code calls in 2009, assigning colors to most types of hospital emergencies, such as 'code red' for a fire and 'code orange' for a hazardous materials spill," the release said.
"In the years that followed, hospitals began to supplement the standardized codes with some of their own, resulting in widespread variation across the state. The change to standardized, plain language codes will reduce confusion, especially for staff members who work in multiple hospitals."
Hospitals began implementing the change on Oct. 1. While facilities are not required to implement the new code calls, the association is strongly recommending it.