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Robot Healthcare Workers Are Here!Scott Houghton

The IdeaFor those who watch a lot of science fiction, the thought of having robotic assistants in hospital and medical settings might inspire fear, amazement, or both. While the idea of our robotic servants rising against their masters and beginning a war is a trope common to most, if not all, science fiction stories, the fact is that that probably won’t happen and until then robots have a myriad of uses; particularly in the medical field. With that in mind, the announcement coming from the University of California, San Francisco that they’re going to be introducing robotic assistants to their medical facility should be seen as a huge step forward for both robotic technology and healthcare assistance.

For Menial WorkNurses are an incredibly invaluable asset to hospitals and doctors. However while they play a large number of useful functions, much of what they do is menial (such as delivering food, transporting waste and blood samples, and other tasks) and can be done by a robot with no training. This would free up time for nurses and would allow them focus on where they’re needed most, such as assisting doctors and providing more specific and intimate care to patients who need it the most. Robotic assistants would also reduce the stress nurses feel by taking over aspects of the job that are susceptible to human error, such as the delivering of blood samples and specific data to specific locations. Tired people makes mistakes, that’s a fact, and with nurses and doctors constantly running around it’s easy to make a mistake that might have fatal ramifications.

The Future is HereThe brand new medical center for UCSF will be introducing 25 Aethon “tug” robots to its staff when it opens this Sunday. The robots will take over aspects of the job that frequently led to injury and human error such as moving heavy material to different locations. With injury rates in hospitals at 4 times higher than other jobs, the robots will reduce those injuries while increasing the level of service hospital staff can provide. The robots would also be able to work a full 24 hours (with 2 getting a break every night) and can open doors by themselves, making it so that they don’t need as much human supervision. The future is quickly approaching and if it continues along this path, I only see good things happening.

Scott Houghton and Healthcare Consulting

http://scotthoughtonmd.org/