First-year students as first responders: Initiating their first code

First-year nursing students may care for patients with deteriorating conditions and should be able to respond appropriately to emergencies. First-year students may not have confidence or skills to initiate a code response within seconds of recognizing an event even though they are required to have certification in basic life support. Faculty of one associate-degree nursing program developed a “Code Week” with a high-fidelity simulation scenario for first-semester students to rehearse initiating a code.