600 PERCENT INCREASE: Since Pikeville Medical Center opened its Intake Department in 2003, the number of patients transferring into the hospital for more specialized care has increased from 294 to 1,779.
PIKEVILLE — Registered nurses overseeing Pikeville Medical Center’s Intake Department have witnessed a 600 percent increase in the number of patients transferring into the hospital in the past eight years.
That means that patients who once were flown or transported via ambulance out of eastern Kentucky and surrounding states are now staying closer to home to receive the care they need.
Registered Nurse Teresa Mullins has been the director of patient registration at PMC since 1998, and she developed the hospital’s Intake Department in 2003.
Prior to upgrading PMC’s method of intake, doctors from other hospitals would call the emergency room when they needed to transfer a patient who required a higher level of care.
WHEN TIME MATTERS: Pikeville Medical Center had 1,779 patients transferred from other hospitals in 2011
That changed in 2003, when Mullins attended a national conference and visited hospitals serving large metropolitan areas in Kentucky and Florida to learn how to implement a more efficient intake system.
That year, 294 patients transferred to PMC from other hospitals. The number of transferred patients nearly doubled in 2004, and it continued to increase every year.
In 2011, 1,779 patients were transferred from other hospitals to PMC, Mullins reported.
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