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What’s Up at Upstate: In case you missed it …

Upstate's new Clinical Pathology Laboratory is on the fifth floor of the cancer center.

Upstate's new Clinical Pathology Laboratory is on the fifth floor of the cancer center.



CANCER CENTER EXPANDS


When the Upstate Cancer Center opened in July 2014, only the first three floors of the five-story building were completed and occupied. The fourth and fifth floors were constructed but left empty, anticipating future Upstate needs.

The fourth floor is now devoted to exam rooms, increasing the number from 14 to 35. The second floor became all infusion rooms, upping the number from 27 to 44. The fifth floor is for Upstate‘s Clinical Pathology Lab.

APPLE STORAGE


Upstate is the first health system in Syracuse to partner with Apple, so patients with iPhones can, if they choose, store all of their health records in Apple‘s Health app. The app comes preloaded on the iPhone and tracks such things as heart rate, steps, calories consumed and other information. Now patients can request their Upstate records be stored there as well.

Upstate already makes medical records data available to patients through UpstateMyChart. Patients use a website or app to view test results, request appointments or medication refills, send questions to their physicians and more. The difference is, the data remains on Upstate‘s servers.

Storing records in the Apple Health app means they can be mingled with records from other health providers. Chief Medical Information Officer Neal Seidberg, MD, says keeping all health information in one convenient place empowers patients. “A major consideration to partner with Apple was to provide our patients with a new and important way to monitor, manage and gain a better understanding of their overall health,” he says. “For families who are on-the-go, the ability to have access to all kinds of health information in the palm of your hand can give one peace of mind.”

GERIATRICS DEPARTMENT


Sharon Brangman, MD

Sharon Brangman, MD


Upstate has become one of a handful of academic medical centers in the United States to have a department devoted to geriatrics. For the past 20 years, the branch of medicine dealing with the health and care of older adults has been a division, or subset of a department, at Upstate. Sharon Brangman, MD, a State University of New York distinguished professor and a former president of the American Geriatrics Society, has led the division – and now leads the department. “Geriatrics is an increasing need and will be so for many decades ahead,” she says.

STUDENT PARTNERS


Newborns in the neonatal intensive care unit often need to be repositioned to aid in their growth. “If they are on their tummy, they push up; then they can develop their shoulders,” Upstate College of Nursing associate professor Karen Klingman, PhD, explained to SU News. “If they are on their back that doesn‘t happen, so there is this trade-off nurses in the NICU need to think about. Should the baby be on their back or on their tummy to help with development?”

For help designing a monitor for those NICU babies, Klingman turned to bioengineering students from Syracuse University‘s College of Engineering and Computer Science. As part of their capstone project, the students developed a prototype. Sensors beneath fabric connect to a custom-coded microcontroller board and measure pressure from an infant‘s shoulders, bottom, head, stomach and knees.

CONCUSSION APP


Associate professor of family medicine Eugene Bailey, MD, teamed up with an athletic trainer to create an app that provides a step-by-step protocol for the diagnosis of concussion. The “Easy SCAT Sideline” app helps coaches and athletic trainers know what to do when a player is injured, so that the possibility of concussion is not overlooked.

NEW MEDICAL COMPLEX


Physicians affiliated with Upstate plan to open a new medical complex featuring more than a dozen specialty services next fall at Township 5 in Camillus.

The group expects to build a one-story, 25,528-square-foot building behind Costco and the Movie Tavern. It would provide office space for family medicine, cardiology, pulmonology, rheumatology, pain medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedics, physical medicine and rehabilitation, urology, otolaryngology, vascular surgery and psychiatry and behavioral health.

NURSING ONLINE


Starting in the spring of 2019, Upstate‘s College of Nursing will offer a Bachelor of Science program fully online. The degree is 121 credits and will take students about 18 months to two years with full-time study, or up to four years with part-time study. The program requires a 135-hour practicum.

Students must complete 60 credit hours from a basic nursing program or an associate‘s degree in nursing beforehand and must have a New York state registered nurse license by the start of their second semester. For more information, visit upstate.edu/con or call the admissions office at 315-464-4570.

This article appears in the fall 2018 issue of Upstate Health magazine
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