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ORIGINAL ARTICLE A Comparative Study to Assess the Knowledge on Code Blue Protocol among the Nurses of General Ward and Critical Care Unit at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India Darmanadane Nanthini1 , Gunasekar Nivetha2 , Subbarayan Rajeswari3 Ab s t rac t Background: Code blue is generally used to indicate a patient requiring resuscitation or in need of immediate medical attention, most often as the result of a respiratory arrest or cardiac arrest. Every hospital as a part of its plans, sets a policy to determine which unit provides personnel or code blue coverage. It is very essential for every staff nurse to have an adequate knowledge regarding the code blue protocol to reduce the mortality rate especially in critical care units. A comparative study was conducted to assess the knowledge on code blue protocol between general ward and critical unit staff nurses at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute. Materials and methods: Descriptive research design was used to conduct this study. Sixty nurses (30 general ward nurses and 30 critical care unit nurses) selected by purposive sampling technique, from the general ward and critical care unit includes medical ward, surgical ward, orthopaedic ward and gynaecological ward at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry. The data collected by semi structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge on code blue protocol. Results: In critical care unit nurses, knowledge mean score is 19.30 and the standard deviation is 3.36. In general ward nurses, knowledge means the score is 15.23 and standard deviation is 2.19. The findings show that statistically highly significant (p ≤ 0.000). Conclusion: The critical care nurses are having more knowledge about code blue than general ward nurses. Code blue call is the life threatening scenario where it should be known to every nurse who was working in both critical care units and general wards. Keywords: Cardiac arrest, Code blue, Critical care unit, General ward and staff nurses. Pondicherry Journal of Nursing (2019): 10.5005/jp-journals-10084-12106 In t r o d u c tio n In hospital area, emergency resuscitation and stabilization of medical emergency situations can be happening,1–5 that time the code blue can be used as a rapid response system. These medical emergencies require immediate attention.6–8When a person found in cardiac or respiratory arrest (unresponsive, pulse less, or not breathing) the code blue can be started immediately.9–16 Code blue rapid response system are provided with resuscitation and stabilization immediately to established medical emergencies.17–18 The response system is in two phases. (i) Basic life support (BLS) service should be provided by hospital personnel who is the initial response. (ii) Specialized and well trained team will be the second response.19–23 Based upon the quality of standards to enable the proper establishment, the response system is being conducted with a specific response.24–28 To enable the initiation of critical BLS, all members in the hospital must be trained with BLS skills.29,30 BLS equipment should be placed in all strategic locations within the hospital grounds where the equipment is portable or mobile to enable rapid response.31–34 Once there is a code blue, a team of doctors and paramedics (medical assistants and staff nurses), often a designated “code-team,” will rush to the patient taking life-saving measures.35–39 The team uses a “crash cart,” wheelchair/ stretcher, which contains important aids such as suction, oxygen, intubation equipment, ambu bag, defibrillator, resuscitation drugs and an IV setup to stabilize the patient.40–44 The team will utilize BLS and advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) skills to resuscitate patients.45–48 Ob j e c tiv e s • To assess the knowledge on code blue protocol among general ward staff nurse and critical care staff nurse. • To compare the knowledge on code blue protocol among general ward staff nurse and critical care staff nurse. • To find out the association between the level of knowledge on code blue protocol with selected demographic variables. 1–3Department of Child Health Nursing, Kasturba Gandhi Nursing College, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry, India Corresponding Author: Subbarayan Rajeswari, Department of Child Health Nursing, Kasturba Gandhi Nursing College, Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Puducherry, India, Phone: +91 9442254624, e-mail: rajeswaris@kgnc.ac.in How to cite this article: Nanthini D, Nivetha G, Rajeswari S. A Comparative Study to Assess the Knowledge on Code Blue Protocol among the Nurses of General Ward and Critical Care Unit at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Puducherry, India. Pon J Nurs 2019;12(1):1–4. Source of support: Nil Conflict of interest: None © The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give 

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