ABSTRACT
Introduction: “Code blue” (CB) is common emergency code,used by hospitals to alert trained emergency response teamof any cardiac arrest. The factors affecting the outcome ofresuscitative services are inherent to the patient and also tothe functioning of the Code Blue System (CBS). The primaryobjective was to assess the success of ‘Code Blue’ in terms ofsurvival. The other objective was to identify the patient andsystem variables associated with a favorable outcome.Material and methods: This was a cross sectionalretrospective study done in a multispecialty teaching hospitalin Bihar during the period from April 2018 to March 2019.The study was conducted after approval from the InstitutionalEthics Committee. Data was gathered from the Code BlueReport Form and further details of individual patients weretracked from their medical records. Data was entered in anExcel Spreadsheet and analyzed using descriptive statistics,Chi-square test and logistic regression analysis using SPSSVersion 21 software.Results: A total of 111 CB calls were initiated during theperiod. Code Blue activated for cardiac arrest situations onlywere considered in the study. Emergency response calls forphysiologically acute changes in the patients were excluded.Immediate success of resuscitation services for Code Bluecalls was 63.06%, beyond 24 hours this was 27.03% and atdischarge this was just 9.01%. Factors such as age, time ofCode Blue during or outside routine hospital working hours,associated comorbidities, procedures like dialysis, operationor chemotherapy done in the last 24 hours preceding the CodeBlue and duration of CPR were found to have a significanteffect on the success rate.Conclusion: We conclude, that formal training of all thehealthcare providers on BLS is of paramount importance.Further in depth analysis is required to find out the root causeof the problems that are associated with the ‘Code Blue’process which is affecting the success rates beyond routinehospital working hours.