Washington Hospitals Create New Plan for Emergency Announcements

Oct 18, 2024 - The Washington State Hospital Association has led an effort to change the way emergencies are announced on hospital public address systems. The newly standardized language makes it easier for staff, patients and visitors to understand emergent situations in hospitals. There will be no need to use a reference card to know what is happening, allowing for a quicker, more efficient response. This initiative targets equity as well, as plain language alerts are more useful to those with limited English proficiency, cognitive impairments or sensory difficulties. Everyone deserves equal access to emergency information.  The change to plain language follows endorsed best practices from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Incident Management System and the CDC. The campaign aims to convince hospitals to convert emergency code calls into a standardized plain-language system. This means using plain language to announce most emergency codes instead of "color" codes.