COLORS FOR KIDS Color-coded ID bands speed response in rescue situations.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Color-Coded Wristbands Prepare You for Pediatric Codes

If your facility sees pediatric patients, you're probably familiar with the Broselow measuring tape or similar color-coded charts that calculate, based on a child's height and weight, the amounts of rescue drugs and the sizes of supplies needed to respond to laryngospasm, tachycardia, malignant hyperthermia or other surgical emergencies. They're valuable reference tools, but in a crisis situation, the last thing you need to worry about is locating the tape or measuring the patient.

At our surgery center, we prepare for any such emergency by putting color-coded ID wristbands on our pediatric patients that correspond to their measurements on the tape. Our nurses find out each patient's height and weight during pre-op phone calls and verify the information against their most recent history and physical form, so they're color-coded when they arrive on the day of surgery.

Since the information on the tapes and charts is in very small print, we've also copied the details in larger type on color-coded sheets, which we've placed in every pediatric cart alongside the color-coded emergency procedure packs.

The color-coded ID wristbands are an idea I'd seen at another surgery center while visiting as a surveyor, but I implemented it at my own as soon as I got back. It's obvious that the wristband manufacturers were thinking about the possibility, since their products' colors nicely matched the charts. And our mock code drills have proven to us the idea's value in speeding our response to an emergency.

Sandy Berreth, RN, MS, CAS
Brainerd Lakes Surgery Center
Baxter, Minn.
[email protected]