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04.22.13

Standardized Codes Implementation Guide

Expert

Jackie Gatz

Jackie Gatz

Senior Vice President of Quality, Safety and Research

Actions

Type

Guides

Topic

  • Preparedness and Response

Tags

guide preparedness and response

In mid-2011, the Missouri Hospital Association began receiving requests from its members to lead an initiative to standardize the emergency codes used in Missouri hospitals. The requests came from all areas of the state and from health systems, as well as small, rural hospitals.

This follows a national trend to standardize emergency codes as recommended by the Joint Commission in 2012. Further, there is a trend to adopt plain language versus color code announcements.

There is no one definition for plain language, but two criteria are generally recognized.

  • People understand the information received without further extensive explanation.
  • People know what actions are required based on the information received.

In 2012, MHA conducted a survey and found significant variation among hospitals, including nine different emergency codes that were used to notify staff of a hospital evacuation. Even in specific geographic regions and metropolitan areas, the variation was significant. MHA has provided an implementation guide to assist hospitals with this transition. The goal is to have all Missouri hospitals using these standardized, plain language emergency codes.

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