Fire Dept "Code"

[eg153wftx]

I know the Phoenix RDC and Mesa uses the term "code" for a full cardiac arrest. My query is was there once a number or color that went with "code"?
Back in my EMS days in Texas we used "code 99" and the hospitals used "code blue", but most of the time we just called it a "code" instead of the 99 or blue, so just wondering if there was actually a radio designation for a "code".

 

[zerg901]

Arlington Mass - near Boston - cardiac arrest has been "code" or "code 99" for maybe the last 40 years (on the fire radio system 460.60R)

I wonder if the term came from a TV show or movie? Or maybe the EMT textbook?

 

[Whiskey3JMC]

Philly Fire Communications uses "Code blue" for cardiac arrest dispatches. I've heard simply "code" without "blue" to describe the same elsewhere. Wikipedia link here contains other commonly used color codes in various countries

 

[Firedad23]

As a retired firefighter/Paramedic, we use just the term "code" or " working code". or the pt has coded, for cardiac arrest. There is no number like police codes. Hospitals use different colors for different situations.

 

[Foresigt]

I can assure you for the last 40+ years Phoenix Fire has called it a Code. Even when they used 10 codes years ago.

 

[eg153wftx]

I can assure you for the last 40+ years Phoenix Fire has called it a Code. Even when they used 10 codes years ago.

yea I understand that...but me being the OCD type it had to be code "something" at one time.... and just got shortened to just code...

 

[avdrummerboy]

Most agencies that I know (and any that I have worked for or with) simple use just "Code" or "Full Code." According to a quick search the term code blue came from Bethany medical center in Kansas City, KS. It is commonly shortened to just code or coded.

 

[ecps92]

it will vary from agency to agency
Working Code, Working Arrest, etc

I know the Phoenix RDC and Mesa uses the term "code" for a full cardiac arrest. My query is was there once a number or color that went with "code"?
Back in my EMS days in Texas we used "code 99" and the hospitals used "code blue", but most of the time we just called it a "code" instead of the 99 or blue, so just wondering if there was actually a radio designation for a "code".

 

[KE5ZBG]

I know the Phoenix RDC and Mesa uses the term "code" for a full cardiac arrest. My query is was there once a number or color that went with "code"?
Back in my EMS days in Texas we used "code 99" and the hospitals used "code blue", but most of the time we just called it a "code" instead of the 99 or blue, so just wondering if there was actually a radio designation for a "code".

The MPDS/Clawson code is 9-Echo-1.

 

[hulka]

Back in the day in Ocean County, NJ 10-88 was CPR on progress

 

[Spankymedic7]

I think that we can all agree that "code", and any variation thereof, means cardiac arrest.

 

[kj4jaq]

I think that we can all agree that "code", and any variation thereof, means cardiac arrest.

i concur. work in a hospital or around paramedics and say someone is "coding" and they will all know what it means. cardiac arrest; get the crash cart. time to break some ribs.

unless we are going to go back to old school days with kmart and their color codes that were automated announcements for people of different levels (cashier, manager, maintenance, janitorial) to go to "X" location inside the store.