Hospital Patients: Know The Color of Your Bracelet
Hospitals have long used color-coded bracelets as shorthand to communicate patients' needs to doctors and nurses. For instance, a purple bracelet might indicate that a terminally ill patient does not wish to be resuscitated in the event of heart failure.
Now there is a movement to standardize bracelets, preventing confusion when a health care worker moves from one hospital where (for instance) yellow bracelets mean "do not resuscitate" to another where they indicate an allergy to peanuts.
Bracelets have other pitfalls--for instance, a patient might not wish to advertise a certain desire or condition to visiting loved ones. And children have a tendency to take them off and trade them with each other.
The important thing, if you or a loved one is staying in a hospital, is to know what the colors of your bracelets mean and be prepared to tell doctors and nurses about it. If a doctor or nurse comes up to you or your loved one and begins doing something you don't understand, do not hesitate to ask about it--not only is it good for you to know these things in general, but they may be acting on a misinterpretation of the colored bracelet.
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