Mock Code Blue Staff Assessment a Hospital-Based

Mock Code Blue Staff Assessment

A hospital-based code team should consist of the following medical professionals:

Emergency Department Physician - a board certified emergency physician oversees the code blue process.

Team Coordinator - A registered nurse from the Cardiovascular Medical Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) acts as Team Coordinator. This person is certified in advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), and is responsible for the patient's care during a code blue.

Recorder - The recorder is an ACLS certified registered nurse from the Cardiovascular Care Center (CVCC). This team member monitors the patient throughout the process and documents the time and details of each action taken.

Medication Nurse - The medication nurse comes from the Neuro Intensive Care Unit and is also ACLS certified. This individual establishes an IV and administers medications necessary to restore a patient's vital functions.

Other Professionals - In addition to the core team described above, a pharmacist, laboratory technologist, respiratory therapist and other physicians typically assist.

It is critical that established protocols exist to provide the staff with the proper and safe procedural guidelines for a Code Blue situation in a hospital environment. All staff members should be experienced with early assessment, recognition and prevention of potential problems. If the patient is eminently at risk of "coding," they must be checked for responsiveness. If the patient is not responsive, a code should be called and the initial resuscitation steps started.

Pre-Test Questions

Which medical department (in hospital) typically has the most code blues or cardiac arrests?

What are the most common causes for a person to enter Code Blue?

Where do codes most commonly occur?

What are the most common mistakes made by first responders?

What is the proper sequence of activities to resuscitate someone?

How does the hospital setting change the sequence vs. being in the field?

What are the primary goals of resuscitation?

I heard that no matter if a person is unconscious that you should perform CPR. Is this true? When should you not perform CPR?

What is the ratio of 2-person CPR?

When you are giving mouth to mouth are you actually breathing oxygen into the victim's lungs or are you trying to stimulate breathing by breathing carbon dioxide into their lungs?

When performing CPR, how do I know if it's working?

Is it easier to break an overweight person's ribs or a skinnier persons ribs when performing cpr?

What if the victim is wearing dentures?

Post-Test Questions

When referring to cardiac arrest, what does "post-code" mean?

Where should a patient after a code be sent in the hospital?

How necessary is proper monitoring post-code to prevent a re-code?

What is the recovery position?

What should you do for a person who has been accidentally shocked by electricity?

If someone has an asthma attack and collapses, what should a person do? Will CPR help?