Knowing and understanding all your resources in the hospital setting is so important in successful patient care. Let’s dive into what code teams are, their primary role, and what they can do to help support you in patient care!
What is a Code Team?
Code teams are groups of highly trained healthcare providers that respond when a Code Blue is called. A Code Blue is called when a patient is suddenly found unresponsive or unconscious, with no heartbeat, and/or no rise and fall of the chest wall. A Code Blue is a life-threatening medical emergency. It needs to be treated right away with airway maintenance, CPR, and electrical cardiac shocks for certain rhythms.
Who Does a Code Team Consist Of?
Code teams will always consist of physicians (MD or DO’s), respiratory therapists (RT’s), pharmacists, critical care nurses (RN’s), and the patients’ main floor/bedside nurse (RN). Usually anesthesiology, security, and nursing management from that floor are also involved. A chaplain and a social worker may also be present depending on the patient and their loved ones needs.
Code Team’s Role
The role of the code team is to provide emergency medical interventions to the patient. The goal is to get them back to a life sustaining state, whether that’s by performing CPR, shocking the patient back to life, or securing the airway and transferring them to a higher level of care.
During a Code Blue situation, the bedside nurse is often the one who finds the patient and initiates the code. They will then stay with the patient and call out for help. At this point, the main nurse should be adjusting the bed to a flat position and beginning CPR if appropriate. As the charge nurse and other floor nurses arrive, the patients main nurse should instruct someone to get the crash cart and someone else to take over compressions. This way he or she can prepare their report for the code team when they arrive. Once the crash cart arrives, the patient needs to be connected to the cardiac monitor and the defibrillation pads need to be placed.
The code team will arrive very quickly, and the patients’ bedside nurse can give them a quick, pertinent report on why the patient is here and what got them to this state. The code team is a well-oiled machine and will quickly take over the situation, calling out for what mediations and supplies they need as they need it.
Calling a Rapid Response Team Versus Calling a Code
The difference between calling a rapid and calling a code can sometimes be confusing. If you can visibly see your patient declining, but they do not yet meet the criteria to call a Code Blue, then a rapid response team should be called. You can ask a fellow coworker to bring the crash cart to the bedside just to be prepared but never leave your patient in this situation. Visit Nursing Fundamentals: A Guide to Delegation and the Nursing Process for more info on how to delegate. The only time it is appropriate to leave your patient is if the rapid or code team is already there attending to them.
On the other hand, if you walk into your patients’ room and discover that they are unresponsive and either aren’t breathing or don’t have a pulse, then a code blue needs to be called immediately. Again, never leave your patient in this situation.
Do your best to prevent a code blue situation by frequently monitoring your patients. This way you can easily detect a decline and call a rapid before ever needing to call a code. Always trust your nursing instinct in these types of situations, even as a baby nurse.
How Can They Help?
As previously mentioned, code teams consist of highly trained medical professionals who know how to respond to these types of emergent, life-threatening situations. With the proper care and a timely response, they can bring patients who were clinically dead, back to life. Visit Nursing Fundamentals: A Guide to the Complete Healthcare Team for a more detailed breakdown on healthcare providers.
Remember that death is unfortunately an inevitable part of life and often seen in nursing. Visit How to Cope with the Death of a Patient for more info.
Do you work with a code ream? Comment below!
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