The Foundation for Healthy Communities, in partnership with the New Hampshire Organization of Nurse Leaders, has launched a statewide initiative to standardize the color-coded wristbands in hospitals that use them. The hospitals will voluntarily adopt by Jan. 1 the following colors and meanings to convey specific information to physicians and nurses about a patient's care: purple, do not resuscitate; yellow, fall risk; and red, allergy. "Many doctors, nurses and other practitioners work in more than one facility, each with its own set of wristband colors," said Diane Allen, who co-chaired the Foundation's wristband standardization initiative and is Chief Nursing Officer at Concord Hospital. "Confusion among providers is avoidable if hospitals use the same colors to represent the safety alerts." The AHA recently asked all hospitals to consider using the three standardized colors for alert wristbands to improve patient safety.