The power of TigerConnect: Improving Code Blue Workflows for lifesaving impact

Every second counts when it comes to saving lives. Code blue situations demand a coordinated response for patients experiencing cardiac arrest or life-threatening events. However, statistics reveal the survival rate of such patients is dishearteningly low. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, less than 25% of hospitalized patients who experience cardiac arrest survive to hospital discharge.  

Although that statistic is sobering, there is good news. Researchers at the University of Maryland Medical Center found that hospital code teams rushing to a patient can arrive at least one minute faster with the use of a smartphone emergency code notification.  

In the study, done on 35 cardiac events over three years, the code team activations were nearly immediate due to the notifications coming by secure text messages. Meanwhile, conventional methods of code team activation took an average of 78 seconds. 

Not only were code teams able to respond more quickly to events, but the study also showed that the notification system provided caregivers with important patient information that traditional notifications did not. Overall, researchers found the process can improve patient outcomes. 

“In the future, we hope to show that code teams arrive faster using this smartphone code blue notification system and that more patients survive without severe brain injury.”

Cody Couperus, M.D., study’s lead author, resident physician in the emergency medicine and internal medicine program at University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore 

Clearly, there is a pressing need for efficient workflows to improve patient outcomes. By improving Code Blue Workflows, with the assistance of the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform, hospitals can accelerate response times by 2.5 minutes and increase the likelihood of patient survival to discharge by up to 8%. 

Accelerate Code Blue Workflows with TigerConnect Download Infographic

5 ways TigerConnect improves code blue outcomes 

TigerConnect Clinical Workflows can help improve the response and coordination during a code blue situation in a hospital setting. TigerConnect helps with: 

1. Mobile access: TigerConnect can be accessed via mobile devices, ensuring that healthcare providers can receive and respond to code blue alerts and messages from anywhere within the hospital premises. This mobility enhances the response time and allows for immediate action. 

2. Integrations: TigerConnect can integrate with hospital systems, such as electronic health records and nurse call systems, allowing automatic notifications and alerts to be sent to the appropriate team members during a code blue event. This integration streamlines the process and ensures that the right individuals are notified.  

3. On-call scheduling: TigerConnect offers on-call scheduling integrations, enabling code blue notifications to route to the correct on-call providers. 

4. Team activation: TigerConnect Teams allows a set group of roles or people to receive notifications and alarms at the same time. This ensures that the right people are getting the right notification at the right time, allowing the code team to be activated together, and promoting a quicker response by the team. 

5. Role-Based Messaging: Quickly find the provider that is assigned for that patient in the event the code team needs to contact them. 

By facilitating efficient communication and coordination, TigerConnect contributes to improved response times, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes. Simply put, the benefits of using TigerConnect for Code Blue Workflows include:   

• Faster response times, ensuring faster interventions from the moment a code is called to the delivery of life-saving interventions 
• Improved survival to discharge rates 
• Improved quality of life for patients, as patient outcomes are improved 
• Cost savings from the decrease in code blue patients’ length of stay 

Lasting impacts 

Faster response times to patients who experience code blue not only improve their quality of life, but also have a financial impact.  

When patients code and survive, they are sent to the ICU. However, since the response times and patient outcomes are improved with TigerConnect, the patient should spend less time in the ICU, therefore reducing ICU costs.  

In fact, after implementing automated code blue notifications with TigerConnect, the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) saved 78 seconds from the time the code button was pressed to the time of team notification and increased the chance of survival to discharge from 17% to 25%. To learn more, listen to the podcast with Tiffany Kuebler PA-C, MMS, medical director of clinical informatics at UMMS. 

By taking advantage of TigerConnect, hospitals have the opportunity to improve their code blue protocols, improve patient outcomes, and ultimately make a stressful situation better for both healthcare professionals and patients. 

Learn more about Clinical Collaboration Software Platform, Resident Scheduling Software, Physician Scheduling Software, Alarm Management & Event Notification Software & Patient Engagement Software.

Nikki Manuel, MSN, RN-BC, Clinical Consultant

Nikki Manuel, MSN, RN-BC, is a Clinical Consultant at TigerConnect. With more than 20 years of post-acute, critical care, and nursing informatics experience, Nikki helps develop essential systems to improve clinical workflows.

Tags: Code blue, code blue response, critical response workflows, Clinical collaboration and communication, CC&C solutions, Care Team Collaboration, Patient Care