Question: Who IS Dr. Leo?

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OnceAnEMT

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I've heard this term used before in reference to cardiac arrest, but am hearing it hourly now that I am working in an ED. I just assume its from something, like every other name, or at least is short for something. I've asked around and have only gotten myths, and explanations as to why no one really knows who Dr. Leo is. Google of course finds nothing.

So I'm just curious, what/who do y'all think "Dr. Leo" originates from?
 
There was never really any 'Dr. Leo', Dr. Leo was just a term used to denote a cardiac arrest in the 'doctor' code system, as opposed to a number or color based system.

It more derived from a mix of inside jokes, and the notion that hearing a Dr. paged was more pleasant for patients and guests than hearing a code black or code red paged.

Similarly there's no historic Dr. Stork, Dr. Allcome, or Dr.Firebaum ;)
 
DEmedic said:
LEO. Law Enforcement Officer.
Click to expand...

Normally, yes I'd think this, but I don't think that is the reference in this case since it is strictly for cardiac arrest. I assume a security officer would go, but I don't think its the reason for Leo.

EMed, I completely agree that the reason they chose Dr. Something is to protect guests/patients who don't need to be worrying about a cardiac arrest Pt. Same with Dr. Stork, though that one I believe plays more into security as well.

The only legit story I've heard is that back in the 60s or 80s (yeah, that parts iffy huh?) there was a big-time cardiologist working at Breckenridge, the most renowned hospital here in Austin, and his name was Dr. Leo. As he was one of few cardiologists, he was constantly being called over the intercom by name to respond to cardiac arrests. It eventually stuck. Then somehow the name bled to other parts of the nation.
 
I'd think Dr LEO was a call for "SECURITY!!"
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYW5c1c38lo[/YOUTUBE]

"Dr Charles Brown" was one hospital's call for a bomb threat. (Charlie Brown??).
 
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Grimes said:
Normally, yes I'd think this, but I don't think that is the reference in this case since it is strictly for cardiac arrest. I assume a security officer would go, but I don't think its the reason for Leo.

EMed, I completely agree that the reason they chose Dr. Something is to protect guests/patients who don't need to be worrying about a cardiac arrest Pt. Same with Dr. Stork, though that one I believe plays more into security as well.

The only legit story I've heard is that back in the 60s or 80s (yeah, that parts iffy huh?) there was a big-time cardiologist working at Breckenridge, the most renowned hospital here in Austin, and his name was Dr. Leo. As he was one of few cardiologists, he was constantly being called over the intercom by name to respond to cardiac arrests. It eventually stuck. Then somehow the name bled to other parts of the nation.
Click to expand...

That's an interesting story, but don't you think you would have found some reference to it on the interwebs? But the other explanation? Think about it...LEO (i.e. Law Enforcement Officer, i.e. Policeman) being used as the intercom code for a cardiac arrest. It makes perfect sense

Hospital humor.
 
MrJones said:
That's an interesting story, but don't you think you would have found some reference to it on the interwebs? But the other explanation? Think about it...LEO (i.e. Law Enforcement Officer, i.e. Policeman) being used as the intercom code for a cardiac arrest. It makes perfect sense

Hospital humor.
Click to expand...

Perfect.:D
 
Hospital I worked in for a year always paged colors (Dr Blue for code blue, etc).

They also played lullaby music everytime a baby was born. the medics kept asking them to play Taps everytime someone died, just to be fair; but for some reason they never did
 
johnrsemt said:
Hospital I worked in for a year always paged colors (Dr Blue for code blue, etc).

They also played lullaby music everytime a baby was born. the medics kept asking them to play Taps everytime someone died, just to be fair; but for some reason they never did
Click to expand...

My hospital does the entire lullaby music in labor and delivery. I should suggest the taps things when I start.

In regards to the color system, over the past 10 years or so there's been a major push to standardize the overhead announcement definitions between all hospitals.

http://www.jointcommission.org/asse...NS_FOR_HOSPITAL_EMERGENCY_CODES_FINAL_(2).pdf
 
I've only ever heard of LEO as Law Enforcement Officer. This is a new one for me.

johnrsemt said:
Hospital I worked in for a year always paged colors (Dr Blue for code blue, etc).

They also played lullaby music everytime a baby was born. the medics kept asking them to play Taps everytime someone died, just to be fair; but for some reason they never did
Click to expand...

One of our hospitals here does the baby music through the entire hospital as well. I like the idea for Taps though lol. Gonna have to suggest that one. :rofl:

As far as paging, it's all colors. Code red, blue, pink, yellow, orange so on and so forth. Traumas are paged overhead in the ER and on the appropriate services' pagers as "Trauma Red (or yellow or green)". If it's a pediatric "Pediatric" is added in front of it, "Pediatric Trauma Red, ETA xx by EMS (or Care Flight)". That's only for traumas though, they don't advertise that there's a pediatric code going on throughout the hospital, just "Code Blue XXX Tower XXX floor, room XXX".
 
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EMedCounsel said:
There was never really any 'Dr. Leo', Dr. Leo was just a term used to denote a cardiac arrest in the 'doctor' code system, as opposed to a number or color based system.

It more derived from a mix of inside jokes, and the notion that hearing a Dr. paged was more pleasant for patients and guests than hearing a code black or code red paged.

Similarly there's no historic Dr. Stork, Dr. Allcome, or Dr.Firebaum ;)
Click to expand...

Dr. Allcome, that's one I haven't heard in a long time! I used to work at a hospital that used that term if they had an unruly patient, in the days before security had radios.
 
At one hospital I used to frequent, it was always "Dr Armstrong" for the unruly patients.
 
Calling Dr Dartgun…
article-0-11F4E825000005DC-429_634x356.jpg
 
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