Director of the Quarter, Dorene Hughes

Dorene graduated from Chester County High School in Henderson, Tennessee in 1983.  She graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and Nursing in 1987 and 1993 respectively.  She obtained her Masters of Leadership and Management from Western Governors University in 2018. 

Dorene is married to Bobby, who is also employed at Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center. She and her husband live in Hartsville along with their “fur” family members of three cats and four dogs.   She has one son who recently turned 21 and one daughter who attends Middle Tennessee State University.  She has four stepchildren and one grandson that live in Tennessee. The family attends Alice Drive Baptist Church in Bishopville.   She and her husband enjoy riding and taking an occasional trip on his motorcycle. 

Dorene is an active member of our facility and in the Hartsville community.  She is a member of the Physician Satisfaction Team, Quality, and the Patient Safety and Utilization Management Team.  She is the Chairperson for the Darlington County Disabilities and Special Needs Board.  She is also an active member of the Hartsville Evening Lions Club.  Recently she went “fishing with the blind” which is an annual event hosted at Santee by the Lions Club. 

Dorene has a great working relationship with the Medical Staff, Nursing and her co-workers.  She reviews records for the information in the record and writes a query to the physician as needed.  A query is a communication tool or process used to clarify documentation in a patient’s health record for documentation integrity and accurate code assignment.  It is an established mechanism of communication between Clinical Documentation Integrity Specialists (CDIS) or Coders and providers to clarify ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting documentation in a patient’s health record.  She is involved in the IDT meeting on a daily basis.  To say that she is an asset to Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center is beyond words.  We are thankful to have her as our Clinical Documentation Integrity Director.