At our hospital, a rapid response meant the floor/charge nurse and a respiratory therapist would arrive to assess the situation and determine next steps while a full code brought the calvary.

You’d call a rapid response if something seemed ‘off,’ aka increased/labored breathing, syncope, onset of acute confusion, possible stroke, etc.

You would call a code if it the person died or seemed very close to it.

When in doubt, generally a rapid response gets called first and then they decide if a code needs to be called.