Code blue training saves lives

Code blue—a hospital emergency code indicating that a patient needs resuscitation—requires trained personnel to ensure the best possible outcome for Veteran patients.

At the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, nurses and medical residents are taking code training together, which could potentially save more Veterans’ lives during actual codes thanks to greater efficiency and more collaboration among staff.

“In prior trainings, we just had nurses participate,” said Dr. Sui Ng, Resuscitation Education and Innovation Program director at South Texas VA. “We really were lacking that collaboration between the residents and nurses.”

“The better we can communicate as a team and work out these kinks in a simulation, the better we’re going to perform in an actual advanced cardiac life support event,” said Dr. Jacob Huston-Cravens, South Texas VA’s chief resident of Quality and Safety.

Residents are now learning some of the critical steps in a code blue scenario, such as assigning roles, figuring out the rhythm of a code, and deciding what to do once the patient has a pulse again.

“Previously we had the training in the simulation center,” said Ng. “We found that bringing the equipment, manikin and crisis cart to the unit with the staff there has increased the number of attendees.”

Resuscitation outcomes at South Texas VA are above the national average thanks to this program and other facility efforts. “We had more than 50 code blue events last year here at South Texas,” said Huston-Cravens. “We received the pulse back on more than 60% of those patients, which is pretty high.”

Both Dr. Huston-Cravens and Dr. Ng have seen great teamwork and professional development across the staff at the medical center. “I’ve seen growth on the nursing side, as well as the techs, respiratory therapy, residents, everyone involved,” said Huston-Cravens.

Nurses and residents participating in similar programs are among the 122,000 VA health professions trainees in 60 disciplines across the country. VA partners with more than 1,450 academic institutions throughout the nation, making VA’s health professions education program the largest in the United States.