 |
|
|
|
 |
 |
Everyone gets an identification bracelet when they're in the hospital. Those with a special condition get an additional color-coded wristband. It's easy for a nurse in Camp Hill's Holy Spirit Hospital to see a patient has special needs. The patient has the color coded wrist bands. But what the different colors stand for can vary from hospital to hospital.
"Every one of us who has ever been to a hospital gets a wrist band," said state Representative John Payne of Dauphin County. "You assume whether you're transferred to rehab or a nursing facility that they all know what it means. Well, they don't."
That's why Payne introduced a bill to standardize the wrist band colors statewide. Working with hospital groups, they came up with a plan: a pink wristband for a restricted extremity, meaning a problem with an arm or leg; red is for a drug allergy; green for a latex allergy; purple for "do not resuscitate;" and yellow for risk of fall.
"We are suggesting five wrist bands," said Carolyn Scanlan, CEO of the Hospital and Health System Association of Pennsylvania. "Five different colors, a clear definition that goes with each one to be used across the state. If staff moves from hospital to hospital those wristbands won't change. They will always be the same."
Holy Spirit in Camp Hill is one of four local hospitals that have been voluntarily using the standardized colors.
"Anything that we can do to improve patient safety, any aspect of their care is extremely important to Holy Spirit and to anybody who provides health care," said Fran Charney, Director of Risk Management and Patient Safety.
Several other states across the country have adopted standardized hospital wristband colors. Representative Payne's bill is being considered by a House committee.
abc27 News to leave comments on news stories.