Thank you for visiting the Medical / Surgical Unit page. The Medical / Surgical unit is available 24 hours a day every day. We are staffed with approximately 57 full-time, part-time, and PRN employees. We are here to provide nursing care to patients.
We provide care to acutely ill patients of all ages with a variety of illnesses and to those with complications of chronic conditions such as heart and lung disease, diabetes and cancer. We also partner with Hosparus to provide inpatient hospice care to terminally ill patients.
Responsibilities and Purpose
The nursing department coordinates the care and discharge planning for the patient. The functions of the nursing department include conducting admission history and physical assessments as well as ongoing assessments each shift. The medication history and list is an important part of the initial data gathering process. A patient care plan is developed from this initial admission process. The care plan is reviewed daily Monday – Friday during a multidisciplinary roundtable discussion.
It is the goal of the nursing department to provide the best care to our patients in the safest, kindest and most efficient way possible within the scope of our means. We encourage comments that can help us improve the care we provide. We ask that all patients SPEAK UP if they have a question or concern about their care, treatments, medications, caregivers or anything they don’t understand or feel uncomfortable with. We also ask that patients and families take an active part in their care or care of their loved ones by providing a thorough history, maintaining and providing a complete and current medication list, and by participating in discharge planning and the instructions given at discharge.
Our Nursing staff provides the following services:
- Provide general nursing care
- Perform specific treatments or interventions as ordered by the practitioners
- Administer medications, intravenous fluids and blood transfusions
- Review findings from lab and radiology procedures and take appropriate actions
- Communicate test results and patient assessments to practitioners and the care team
- Arrange and coordinate transfers to other facilities as necessary
- Provide patient teaching and discharge instructions
- Document nursing assessments and interventions in the patient electronic record
- Provide emotional and spiritual support for patients and families
- Maintain a safe patient care environment
- Implement emergency procedures
- Work with other departments in the hospital to meet the needs of the patient and family
The Nursing Department also serves as a clinical training site for nursing students from South Central Ky Community and Technical College (SKCTC) and for Western Ky University (WKU).
For more information or if you have questions or concerns, please contact us:
- Nurses' Station:
(270) 487-9231 ext 1166
- Hillorey Carnahan
CNO, BSN, RN, Department Manager
(270) 487-9231 ext 1189
- Brad Emmert
RN, Outpatient/Emergency Services Coordinator
(270) 487-9231 ext 1334
- Donna Murray
RN, Case Manager
(270) 487-9231 ext 1175
- Tracy Murphy
RN, Case Manager
(270) 487-9231 ext 1170
- Dana Hammer
Utilization Review Coordinator
(270) 487-9231 ext 1172
