Wisconsin hospitals advance safety initiatives in many ways. The newest initiative is a statewide commitment to standardize the colors used to identify patients and medical alerts.

Many Wisconsin hospitals use color-coded alerts as a way of quickly identifying important information about patients. Wristbands, stickers and placards are commonly used to identify allergy warnings, fall risks, or do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders. However, until now, there has not been a standard that offers direction to hospitals as to what color identifies which alert. Many health professionals work in multiple facilities so they must memorize multiple, sometimes conflicting, color-coded alert systems, and patients are often transferred from one facility to another creating a potential for confusion.

Fourteen states have chosen to standardize color codes, eight others are considering it. While there is not an official national standard, a majority of states that have standardized have chosen the same colors, including states bordering Wisconsin. Wisconsin is in the process of implementing these same color standards to ensure that patients and heath care employees will have consistent standards when they work across state line. The colors are:

• White or Clear for Patient Identification
• Purple for DNR
• Red for Allergy
• Yellow for Fall Risk

Facilities that are not currently using color-coded alerts are not encouraged to start.

While this is a voluntary program, the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s goal is for 100 percent of hospitals to make the transition to the standard colors by March 1, 2009.

Consumers

To obtain the Patient Safety Brochure, click here.

Providers

Resource documents are available on the WHA web site.