Healthcare facilities frequently use disaster codes as a way to communicate with employees that an emergency or incident is occurring. As increasing numbers of providers work at multiple facilities, and healthcare systems continue to build disaster response teams and protocols covering multiple facilities, standardization of disaster code terminology is critical. A lack of consistency in terminology can potentially have a devastating impact on the understanding and response of visiting or relief staff.

To evaluate the level of standardization in terminology of disaster codes in healthcare facilities.

A convenience sample was taken from a private Facebook™ group consisting of emergency department nurses from a wide range of facilities. The Facebook™ group was asked to share their hospital disaster codes. Of the 40,179 total members, 78 commented, including 55 photos of quick reference badges, and the rest were descriptions/lists of codes. One badge was excluded due to a blurry photograph. Results were collated and analyzed for trends and standardization.

The most common codes were, “Code Red” for fire (72.7%), “Code Blue” for cardiac arrest (44.9%), “Code Silver” for active shooter/weapons event (37.7%) and “Code Orange” for hazardous materials (33.8%). There were 168 instances of a code term being associated with a particular event by five or fewer facilities. Two facilities used numeric systems, with 11 using plain language descriptions.

Disaster code language is inconsistent. Few of the codes were consistently assigned to the same meaning, and none were universal. Color coding was the most common method, but there was little consistency even within color code systems. Additionally, some facilities used a combination of colors, numbers, terms, and plain language. Healthcare facilities should embrace standard terminology and create a consistent language for disaster codes to enhance response capabilities and medical security.