Condition L
UPMC maintains a strong commitment to patient safety and in being proactive with patient safety initiatives. Part of this includes the development of rapid response codes and conditions, including Condition L, UPMC’s newest rapid response code and procedure. This protocol is designed to provide a safer environment for those patients who are considered to be at a higher risk for wandering away from their hospital units.
This condition sets protocol in place for nurses to call a Condition L when it is apparent that a patient has wandered away from the unit and there is concern for the patient’s safety. Through Condition L, all available staff is mobilized to search for and find the patient.
Condition L Model
What is Condition L?
Condition L is a procedure in place to mobilize clinical and support staff to find a patient who is missing from an inpatient unit and when there is concern for the patient’s safety. This condition sends out an overhead message throughout the hospital to alert staff of the missing patient. A description and photo, if one is available, also will be sent out to all staff.
Why is Condition L needed?
Condition L ensures that a patient will be located quickly. The implementation of Condition L provides for a comprehensive, systematic approach to search for and find patients in the rare case when a patient may wander away from their units. This protocol is designed to help find patients who wandered away from their units without the intent to leave the hospital, such as dementia patients and patients who may be disoriented.
What do patients and visitors need to know about Condition L?
It is very rare for patients to wander away from a hospital unit; however this condition allows UPMC to be proactive in finding these patients who do wander, and to bring them back to their units in a timely fashion.
How is Condition L activated?
A nurse on the unit will initiate Condition L, much like with other rapid response codes—such as for cardiac arrest, fire, or Condition H (“help”) — in the hospital. The nurse will call this code immediately upon determining that a patient is missing.
The hospital operator then will announce the Condition L via an overhead message throughout the hospital complex, as well as provide a description of the patient.
Who responds to a Condition L code?
Every available staff member has a role when a Condition L is announced. This includes security, nursing, maintenance and housekeeping. These employees will assist in a coordinated search of the entire hospital complex and surrounding area, which will allow the entire campus to be searched in a short amount of time.
As has been UPMC’s protocol, when patients are missing, local police are notified immediately.
When will Condition L be implemented at other UPMC facilities?
Condition L was launched at UPMC Presbyterian at the end of December 2008, and is currently being rolled out across the rest of the UPMC system.