A multidisciplinary audit of cardiorespiratory arrest response patterns

If a cardiopulmonary arrest occurs in your institution, will the response pattern be organized and consistent? Will the Code Blue procedure flow smoothly, with each member of the resuscitation team knowing what his responsibilities are and how to perform them? Is confusion kept to a minimum? These are the questions which our multidisciplinary Code Blue Committee was charged with answering. The committee audited four broad areas: adequacy of equipment and medication, written policies and procedures, documentation of activities, and preparedness of team members for their specific responsibilities. The multidisciplinary approach to establishing standards of practice for "Code Blues" has been very successful. As a result of the audit, specific actions were taken to correct deficiencies. In addition, the meetings provided a caucus for interdepartmental exposure and communication which has served to augment interdepartmental relationships.