EASTON, PA – In an effort to overhaul and better standardize emergency codes and make “Everything Imaginable” for health care providers, Crayola has announced the release of a new 64 ct. Hospital Code System, involving both classic colors like Red and Blue and new brilliant colors like Jazzberry Jam and Mango Tango.
“If you go from hospital to hospital, each uses a different code system,” commented Crayola president and CEO Mike Perry. “It’s very confusing. We hope to not only standardize it, but also enable our providers to raise creativity and inspire patients.”
For decades, hospitals have used a system of codes, typically based on colors, to notify health care providers of an emergency scenario, which not only communicates the information effectively and succinctly but also maintains patient confidentiality and hospital calm. But as most health care providers know, entering a new health care system or even a new hospital within a given health care system requires learning a new language.
“I once worked at a hospital where Code Blue meant fire,” says respiratory therapist Laura Stevens. “Talk about confusing.”
Crayola’s 64 ct. Hospital Code System has four classic colors as part of its backbone: Red for fire, Blue for cardiopulmonary arrest, White for computer system malfunction, and Black for bomb threat. Crayola continues further with its rainbow assortment of color codes for other common emergencies: Shocking Pink (gynecologic emergency), Robin’s Egg Blue (pediatric emergency), Outer Space (missing patient), Cotton Candy (missing child), Tickle Me Pink (hostage situation), Inchworm (hazardous spill), Purple Mountain’s Majesty (severe weather), and Atomic Tangerine (fruit-based disaster).
Perry and hospital CEOs across the country are applauding the effort. Health care providers are ecstatic.
“There’s a new sense of joy with these codes,” says intensivist Michael Roberts, while performing chest compressions during a Crayola Classic Code Blue. “Now every time I show up for work, all I can think about is what colors I get to use today. I feel like a kid in art class again!“
Not stopping there, Crayola pushes health care imaginations even further by creating several new clinical scenarios whose colors run wild and free. Favorites cited by providers include: Almond (peanut allergy), Macaroni and Cheese (heartburn), Screamin’ Green (nausea and vomiting), Goldenrod (constipation), Laser Lemon (acute hepatic failure), Razzle Dazzle Rose (allergic rhinitis), Bittersweet (suicidal), Banana Mania (acute psychosis), and Fuzzy Wuzzy (bear on premises).
“I just moved here and the codes in this hospital were way different, very confusing, so thank goodness for the change,” says ICU nurse Tammy Watkins of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Shortly after her comment, Nurse Watkins responded to a Crayola Code Razzmatazz for new-onset atrial fibrillation. She added later: “Code Razzmatazz just makes me smile.”
