Transferring Patients
Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center is world-renowned for critical care services, including our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). Our pediatric critical care resources combine specialized skills and state-of-the-art technologies with a compassionate commitment to meeting the challenges of caring for seriously ill infants and children. Duke Children's Pediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care teams represent a wide spectrum of medical specialties including neonatology, critical care medicine, surgery, cardiology and anesthesiology.
When a patient's condition requires the critical care services available at Duke Children's, the process of transferring and transporting patients from another hospital to ours becomes vitally important.
To help referring physicians with the process, we are providing basic information for transferring and transporting patients to Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center in the sections below.
- Patient Transfer Center
- Patient Transfer to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU)
- Patient Transfer to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)
Patient Transfer Center (800-524-5433)
The Duke Transfer Center facilitates and streamlines the patient referral process for the transfer of inpatients from outlying facilities into the Duke University Health System. All referrals require a physician-to-physician consult to discuss patient condition prior to acceptance.
The Transfer Center is staffed by highly qualified registered nurses who triage requests made by physicians wishing to transfer a patient to Duke.
The goals of the Transfer Center are to:
- Provide an easier mechanism to access the health system
- Establish a designated contact point for our referring physicians
- Provide accurate clinical information necessary to assist our Duke faculty in accepting patients into the health system
- Coordinate with bed control to maintain minute-by-minute bed availability
- Provide the crucial link of information to the receiving units at Duke, as well as our transport staff if we are requested to assist in moving the patient to Duke
The Transfer Center is currently responsible for assisting with interfacility tranfers of the following patients:
- Pediatric patients to all service lines except bone marrow transplant
- Adult patients to all service lines except cardiology, OB, and psychiatry at Duke
- Adult patients to the MICU and general medicine at Durham Regional Hospital
The Transfer Center conferences the requesting MD with an attending physician in the appropriate service line at Duke to discuss patient condition and acceptance. Transfers are screened for medical necessity.
Making a Transfer Request
Information needed at the time of the request includes:
- Requestor name/contact number for MD and facility
- Referring MD/facility name
- Diagnosis of patient
- Date of birth
- Level of care needed (e.g., floor, ICU)
- Service line being requested (e.g., GSU, medicine, pediatrics, etc.)
For further questions or concerns, contact Marie Hale, RN, Clinical Operations Director for the Transfer Center and Bed Control, 919-681-2219. She can also be paged at 919-970-3989.
Transfer Center Contact Information
Duke University Hospital
2301 Erwin Road, Room 0653
Durham, NC 27710
919-681-3440 (Local)
800-524-5433 (Toll-free)
919-681-3950 (Fax)
Patient Transfer to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) (800-633-3853)
Note: The optimal way to transfer a patient is to call:
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Attending on Call: 919-970-1714 or
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Fellow on Call: 919-681-5551
Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center uses Duke University Health System's Emergency Medical Services to transport premature and critically ill newborns to our neonatal intensive care unit from hospitals in the Triangle area and will facilitate transports from anywhere in the world. Our service is dedicated to providing rapid response with a highly skilled and experienced team of doctors, nurses and paramedics.
When a transfer has been arranged, a copy of the patient's medical records and other pertinent information should be sent with the infant. At Duke Children's, the goal is to keep an open line of communication with the referring physician and return all infants to their hospital of birth as soon as medically appropriate.
If you are a physician who would like to transfer an infant to the NICU at Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center, call 800-MED-DUKE (800-633-3853). A neonatologist will be available for consultations or to arrange for transport 24 hours a day/7 days a week.
Patient Transfer to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) (800-524-5433)
Duke Children's Hospital and Health Center serves as a referral center and regional resource for those hospitals that have patients requiring the level of care provided at our hospital. Our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit provides state-of-the-art care around the clock for infants, children and adolescents with life-threatening illness and injuries and for those recovering from major and/or high-risk surgery.
Duke Children's uses Duke University Health System's Emergency Medical Services to transport premature and critically ill newborns to our Pediatric Intensive Care Unit from hospitals in the Triangle area and will facilitate transports from anywhere in the world. Our service is dedicated to providing rapid response with a highly skilled and experienced team of doctors, nurses and paramedics.
The referring physician will provide:
- Name and phone number of referring hospital
- Patient's and parent's name and address/telephone number
- Copy of the patient's medical records and other relevant information
- Medical insurance information
Referring physicians who need to transfer a patient to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit can call the Patient Transfer Center at 800-524-LIFE (5433), 24 hours a day/7 days a week and ask for the attending or critical care fellow.
