Hospital Codes

Hospital codes are codes used in hospitals to alert staff to various emergencies. The use of codes is intended to convery essential information quickly and with minimal misunderstanding to staff, while preventing stress and panic among the visitors to the hospital.

The meaning of a specific color code can vary from one hospital to another hospital. At this page, the meanings of the codes at Seattle Grace Hospital (and the hospitals later established in the building) and St. Ambrose Hospital.

Code Black
Code black means that there is a bomb inside the hospital.

Occurences

 * It's the End of the World: Code black was only called once at Seattle Grace Hospital when a patient was admitted with a self-made, unexploded bomb inside his body.

Code Blue
Code blue indicates that a patient requires resuscitation or is otherwise in need of immediate medical attention, most often as the result of a respiratory or cardiac arrest.

Code Pink
Code pink is called when a child or infant has gone missing. After this code is called, all entrances and exits of the hospital are locked or guarded until the entire hospital has been searched.

Occurences

 * The Girl with No Name: Bailey ordered a nurse to call code pink when her son was missing for daycare, though the code was called off when Tuck reappeared. It turned out a nurse took him away briefly to take care of his nosebleed.

Notes and Trivia

 * While personnel is supposed to know the codes by hard, only the attendings were aware of the meaning of code black.