Anglia Ruskin University: Global Debates on Robotic Doctors Experience

This essay examines the impact of robotic doctors on patient experience, exploring both the positive and negative aspects of their implementation in healthcare. The introduction highlights the increasing role of artificial intelligence and robots in healthcare services, noting the mixed patient responses. The main body presents arguments in favor of negative patient experiences, such as patient fear, lack of trust in machines, and the inability of robots to meet emotional and psychological needs. It also discusses the limitations of current robotic technology and the potential for patient discomfort. Conversely, the essay presents arguments against negative experiences, emphasizing the benefits of robotic care, such as timely medication reminders, companionship, and the ability to provide care without language or cultural barriers. The conclusion acknowledges the importance of robotic care while also considering the negative consequences and recommending that health professionals develop essential aspects of robotic care to improve patient outcomes.

Robot doctors represent a
negative step in terms of
patient experience

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................2
Arguments in favour of negative patient experience towards robotic care.................................2
Arguments against.......................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Technology is becoming an integral part of the life and thus role of artificial intelligence
and robots is also enhancing in every aspect of life, especially in health care services. Robots are
machines embedded with artificial intelligence which are capable to replicate some of the
functions and actions of human beings in an automatic process (Leitao and et.al., 2016). There
are several ethical, legal and social considerations associated with the use of robotic care. At
present the extent up to which robotic care is delivered is very limited but its popularity is
rapidly increasing all over the world. Though in health services robotic care is considered as
beneficial innovation but there is mix response from the patient experience. The essay will
present the arguments in relation to the negative patient experience towards robotic doctors.
MAIN BODY
Arguments in favour of negative patient experience towards robotic care
As per the view of Birks and et.al., (2016) many health professionals and artificial
intelligence experts believes that robotic care is emerging face of the health care services.
However there are service users as well as professionals who believe that despite several positive
outcomes robotic care may has negative patient experience. Most of the patients always have
fear or lack of confidence that the robotic machines may not deliver effective services as that is
delivered by the robots. The key argument behind this lack of trust is that for patients it is much
easier to interact with a living health professional rather than a machine (Veccia and et.al., 2020).
In order to provide effective care to patients it is necessary that there must be effective
coordination and proper interaction between service provider and patients.
Thus patient may feel that robotic care may fail to understand their emotional needs.
Since robots are mere machines which have some predefined programmes embedded, they lack
emotional understanding. Thus robots may accurately measure or record the symptoms or
records but they always fails to meet emotional, psychological and cultural considerations
involved in health care services. Similarly Agarwal, Mazurenko and Menachemi, (2017) stated
that within health care settings patients are very nervous and afraid. Thus from health care
service providers they expect to receive moral support and more person centred care in which

their family members and communities are also taken into consideration. However with robotic
care this expectation may not filled completely (Fiani and et.al., 2018). Patient may find robotic
care less effective and integrated in terms of inclusion of person centred approach.
The knowledge and training provided to the human professionals is also regulated and
monitored by legislative and organisational policies. However with robotic care patients are
always in fear that if robot will fail to provide accurate care then there is no possible way to
identify or control it. Since robots are technical machines they cannot be trusted for providing
crucial health care services. This is also one of the reasons that thought artificial intelligence and
robots are rapidly finding their place in business and education sector but still patients used to
consider them doubtful in handing responsibility of their life.
Another common factor making patients to develop negative experience towards robotic
care is lack of expertise technology or robots. The robotic care is advanced concepts and is still
limited to very few health care settings (Riek, 2017). There are very limited innovations or
knowledge developed for robots to prepare them for replacing the human being. Thus limited
robotic care is also one of the reason that most of the patients are either unaware of such care
provisions or they have limited comfort ability with robotic care.
Most of the patients believe that the ease with which they can share emotions and pain
with human professionals it is not possible with the robotic machine. Such kind of patients can
have negative impact on their psychological as well as physical health when provided care with
robots. For instance when patients are not comfortable with the robotic care then it may create
psychological distress and they may not share their health concerns openly. It can worsen the
patient situation and can have adverse impact on their overall health outcome. The inconvenience
to patients in sharing health concern or limitations of robots to include emotional intelligence
result in inappropriate care outcomes which can be unsuitable for achieving desired outcomes for
the welfare and betterment of the patient health.
Arguments against
According to Veccia and et.al., (2020) robots are widely being used as socially assistive
machines which can also interact with patients to support, coach, monitor for promoting health.

These robots assist health care service providers in keeping records of symptom progression,
medical scheduling and medication schedules. However these robots are also considered as very
helpful for providing effective care to patients. There are individuals such as in care home
settings where individual patients does not have any family member or care provider. Thus such
patients face huge not only emotional and psychological distress but also lack regular care and
attention from the service providers. For such patients robotic care is one of the best
interventions which can be used by the service providers.
The robots not only help in timely medication reminders, pill sorting and tracking of
symptoms progressions but also assist in companionship. The robots can give psychological
comfort to patient by reducing stress, enhancing mood and encouraging or supporting in social
interactions. For robots it is possible to provide care to patients without any kind of language,
cultural or time barriers (Archibald and Barnard, 2018). Patients experience improved care
management as they get person centred care through these machines without any limitations. The
care provided by human beings is limited to time barriers and efficiency. However with robotic
care it is possible for patient to build a lifelong and self centred care which makes patient more
comfortable and satisfied towards care services.
In the same context Leitao and et.al., (2016 stated that robots are also designed in
attracting appearance which gives more psychological comfort to patients. For instance a care
robot with appearance of baby can have positive impact on social life or activities in elderly care
homes or patients with other psychological disorders. Similarly with patient of minor age groups
receiving robotic care can also be a good experience as it may make them feel relaxed in
complex health care environment. In order to provide care to children, elderly groups or other
people suffering from psychological disorders robotic care tend to give positive and more
comforting patient experience. It has been also observed that most of the individual hesitate in
providing clinical records to the service providers.
It often leads to misinterpretation of symptoms of inaccurate recording of health care
data. However when robots are used for providing care to patients then such kind of discomfort
and hesitation is vanished (Birks and et.al., 2016). Since robots are merely machines with
capability of human actions they make individual highly comfortable in giving clinical samples.
As a result a better foundation for the care services is formulated by the robots giving patients

more personalised care. Patient centred care is one of the most influential approaches of health
care services. This approach emphasises upon education, communication and coordination with
patient along with the involvement of family and other community members (Van der Loos,
Reinkensmeyer and Guglielmelli, 2016)
.
The use of robotic care improves communication with patients along with the better
monitoring and analysis of patient needs. Thus robotic care can be considered as great mile stone
in enhancing the health care experience of patients. As compare to the nurses and health care
professionals patients can find more secure and intense care. On many occasions it is possible
that health care professionals may not provide adequate services to patients due to lack of
knowledge, experiences, training or their inability to effectively deal with gender or cultural
differences (Agarwal, Mazurenko and Menachemi, 2017). In such circumstances robotic care is
proven to be more impactful and qualitative as it overcomes such barriers leading to undesirable
health outcomes. For improvement of health care services it is essential that robotic care must be
integrated with the contemporary health care services.
CONCLUSION
From the above arguments it can be concluded that it cannot be denied that robotic care
lead to positive patient experience. However it cannot be neglected that there are certain negative
consequences as well which must be taken into consideration. It has been also analysed that
robotic care is vital for providing patient centred services which are highly desirable. For some
patients robotic care can be a means of accurate monitoring and socio-emotional assistance while
for the others robotic care is just limited to medication records with neutral impact on the care
outcomes. Thus it is highly recommended that health professionals must develop some aspects of
robotic care essentially for all care plans so that monitoring and measurement of health outcomes
can be accurately traced. It will help to overcome the associated negative impact of robotic care
and health care services will accomplish a new level of improved patient outcomes.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Agarwal, R., Mazurenko, O. and Menachemi, N., 2017. Re: High-Deductible Health Plans
Reduce Health Care Cost and Utilization, Re: Association of Robotic-Assisted vs
Laparoscopic Radical Nephrectomy with Perioperative Outcomes and Health Care Costs,
2003 to 2015 Re: Short-Term Complication Rates following Anterior Urethroplasty: An.
Archibald, M.M. and Barnard, A., 2018. Futurism in nursing: technology, robotics and the
fundamentals of care. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 27(11-12). pp.2473-2480.
Birks, M.. and et.al., 2016. Robotic seals as therapeutic tools in an aged care facility: a
qualitative study. Journal of aging research. 2016.
Fiani, B. and et.al., 2018. Impact of robot-assisted spine surgery on health care quality and
neurosurgical economics: a systemic review. Neurosurgical review. pp.1-9.
Leitao, M.M. and et.al., 2016. Impact of robotic platforms on surgical approach and costs in the
management of morbidly obese patients with newly diagnosed uterine cancer. Annals of
surgical oncology. 23(7). pp.2192-2198.
Riek, L.D., 2017. Healthcare robotics. Communications of the ACM, 60(11), pp.68-78.
Van der Loos, H.M., Reinkensmeyer, D.J. and Guglielmelli, E., 2016. Rehabilitation and health
care robotics. In Springer handbook of robotics (pp. 1685-1728). Springer, Cham.
Veccia, A. and et.al., 2020. Impact of Robotic Surgery on Sick Leave and Return to Work in
Patients Undergoing Radical Prostatectomy: An Evidence-Based Analysis. Urology
Practice. 7(1). pp.47-52.