At its Nov. 6 meeting, the IHA board approved a recommendation by the Council on Quality and Patient Safety to designate six standard patient alert wristband colors. If hospitals elect to use colors to designate risks or conditions, IHA is asking those hospitals to consider using the following color designations:

• White or clear for patient identification;
• Red for allergies;
• Yellow for fall risks;
• Purple for do not resuscitate;
• Green for latex allergies; and
• Pink for restricted extremity.

The Indiana Patient Safety Center is evaluating available toolkits and hopes to adopt one common toolkit for all Indiana hospitals to use if they choose to implement the standard patient alert colors. Contact: Betsy Lee (blee@ihaconnect.org or 317/423-7795).