Breaking the Code: Considerations for Effectively Disseminating Mass Notifications in Healthcare Settings

Curt Harris (), James Zerylnick, Kelli McCarthy, Curtis Fease and Morgan Taylor
Additional contact information
Curt Harris: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
James Zerylnick: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Kelli McCarthy: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Curtis Fease: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Morgan Taylor: Institute for Disaster Management, College of Public Health, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 18, 1-21

Abstract: Many healthcare facilities use code-based alert systems to notify staff of ongoing emergencies via public announcement systems. This study sought to assess the ability of clinical and non-clinical employees across the State of Georgia to correctly identify their facility’s emergency codes, assess employee’s opinions of emergency alert systems, and identify significant predictors of emergency code identification accuracy. Anonymous electronic surveys asked 304 employees at five facilities to identify the codes for 14 different emergencies. Participants correctly identified the emergency codes with 44.37% accuracy on average. The codes for fire, infant abduction, and cardiac arrest were most commonly identified correctly. Code identification accuracy was significantly associated with training at orientation, knowledge of emergency code activation procedures, facility experience, and the total number of facilities in an employee’s career. Most survey participants favored a code-based alert system over a plain language-based alert system, citing concerns of causing panic in patients and visitors, and of maintaining confidentiality and discretion. The low code identification accuracy suggests healthcare employees may have limited awareness of ongoing emergencies. Transitioning to plain language overhead emergency alerts will better position employees, as well as patients and visitors, to effectively respond to emergencies and disasters occurring within a healthcare facility.

Keywords: emergency communication; mass notification; overhead alerts; color codes; plain language; hospital; healthcare; emergencies; disasters (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11802/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/18/11802/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:18:p:11802-:d:918822

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().