A call for help. Australia needs a standard emergency phone number in all hospitals

Williams, Gerald F

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2006.tb00427.x

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To the Editor: Much has been written to describe the best clinical protocols to improve patient outcome following a medical emergency in hospital.1-4 However, one simple step in the process has not been clearly articulated: what is the hospital internal emergency number to ring to summon the medical emergency or “code blue” team?

Maroondah Hospital, Melbourne, VIC.

Correspondence: ged.williams@maroondah.org.au

1. Henderson SO, Ballesteros D. Evaluation of a hospital-wide resuscitation team: does it increase survival for in-hospital cardiopulmonary arrest? Resuscitation 2001; 48: 111-116.
2. Bellomo R, Goldsmith D, Uchino S, et al. A prospective before-and-after trial of a medical emergency team. Med J Aust 2003; 179: 283-287. <MJA full text>
3. Hillman K, Chen J, Cretikos M, et al; MERIT study investigators. Introduction of the medical emergency team (MET) system: a cluster-randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2005; 365: 2091-2097.
4. Australian Resuscitation Council. New changes to resuscitation guidelines. March 2006. Available at: http://www.resus.org.au/ (accessed May 2006).
5. National Patient Safety Agency. NHS. Crash call. Patient safety alert. 24 Feb 2004. Available at: http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/display?contentId=2400 (accessed May 2006).

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