Upstate is beginning a virtual nursing program – real nurses, working remotely -- which aims to keep hospital patients’ care smooth and efficient. On this week's "HealthLink on Air, " nurse Kathy Berardi, from Upstate’s surgical services administration, explains the role of the virtual nurse and what patients can expect.
To care for and track patients efficiently through their hospital stays, Upstate recently opened a state-of-the-art Throughput Operations Center in East Syracuse. Also on this week's show, nurse Kyle Choquette, who oversees the center, explains its role in reducing bottlenecks and streamlining patient care throughout Upstate University, Golisano Children's and Community hospitals. Choquette is an associate director for nursing at Upstate.
And, sociologist Jennifer James speaks about her community-based research on forced sterilizations. Until 1979 in California, thousands of people living in state-run hospitals, homes and other institutions were involuntarily sterilized. Later, it was found that forced or coerced sterilizations continued to be performed on people in custody at state prisons or other correctional facilities. James explains that California was not alone in allowing forced sterilizations and that some states still permit people to be sterilized against their will. She is an associate professor in the Institute for Health and Aging and the Bioethics program at the University of California, San Francisco, who recently gave a bioethics lecture at Upstate.
Listen to Healthlink on Air every Sunday at 6 a.m. on WRVO.