A Comprehensive Analysis of Robot Care Nursing in Healthcare

This report provides a comprehensive overview of robot care nursing, examining its benefits, challenges, ethical considerations, and legal implications. It begins by defining robot care nursing and outlining the perspectives of stakeholders, highlighting both the potential for improved care delivery and concerns about job security among healthcare professionals. The report then details the pros and cons of robotic nursing, supported by research evidence showcasing robots like RIBA, Giraffplus, and CARE-O-BOT4, which assist with lifting patients, monitoring vital signs, and providing social support. The significance of this research is underscored by its potential to reduce falls, enhance patient referrals, promote positive outcomes, reduce injuries among nursing staff, and improve job satisfaction. However, the report also addresses professional issues, such as the substitution of manpower, and ethical concerns related to the ANA code of ethics, patient advocacy, and culturally safe care delivery. Legal issues, including liability, data protection, and electronic personhood, are also discussed, along with social implications like improved patient dignity and reduced family support. The report concludes that while medical welfare robots offer potential benefits for treating chronic illnesses and disabilities, careful monitoring and evaluation are necessary to ensure quality service delivery and address ethical and legal challenges. Recommendations include promoting further research on human-robot interaction and implementing robotic nursing with stringent oversight.

ROBOT CARE NURSING
-PRESENTED BY:

Introduction:
 The Robotic nursing care is based
upon the application of robots
within healthcare setting to
impart care.
 According to Mordoch et al.
(2013), a robot can be defined as
a reprogrammable, multitasking,
manipulative mechanical device
that can perform multiple
functions with expertise.

Stakeholder’s Perspective:
 The nursing robot is primarily designed to assist bedridden patients
(Van Wynsberghe 2013)
 The common functions expected from a robot nurse includes operating
electronic devices and arranging the bedside of a patient according to
the request placed by the patient (Huston 2013).
 The workstation of a robot nurse is majorly confined to one room
 The robotic supervision has been seen to facilitate better care delivery
 The functions are majorly restricted to automated functions and does
not include the planning of an intervention.
 The care professionals disagree with the integration of the system
within the healthcare facility on account of experiencing job insecurity

Pros and Cons of Robot Care
Nursing:
 On the basis of research study findings, the following pros and
cons of robotic nursing can be enlisted (McColl and Nejat 2013):
PROS:
 Effective in addressing cognitive decline
 Improving interaction between patients and caregivers
 Convenient patient data collection in adverse situations
 Better assistance with ADLs (activities of daily living)
 Avoiding medical error
CONS:
 Cost of installation
 Compromised Privacy

Research Evidence:
 RIBA developed by the joint collaboration of RTC
and TRI is an efficient robot that can help in lifting
patients from the bed or wheelchair. The robot
operates on sensors and ensure a human like grip
on the patients (Vermeersch et al. 2015)
 Giraffplus, a robot developed by the Sweden
researchers can monitor the blood pressure and
glucose level of the patients and also assist
patients with real time video chat with the
physicians and care professionals
 CARE-O-BOT4 is another robot that engages
patients in empathetic interactions and assists
patients with social support (Robinson et al. 2013)

Significance of the research:
 Studies indicate that installation of robot care nursing can
effectively ensure (Chen et al. 2014):
 Reduced prevalence of falls and accidents within the Geriatric
care Unit
 Enhance patient referrals
 Promote positive patient outcome
 Reduce risks of injuries within nursing professionals
 Improve job satisfaction and employee retention

Professional Issues:
 Substitution of manpower with automated robots equipped to
perform a number of tasks
 Lack of responsibility and adherence to professional standard of
practice

Ethical Consideration:
 Including robotic care nursing practice would defy the ANA code of
ethics under provision 1 that requires nurses to practice with
compassion and respect (Epstein and Turner 2015).
 It would also violate patient advocacy and the procurement of care
assistance to the family of the patients (Butts 2013)
 Robotic care nursing would also fail to assist patients with culturally safe
care delivery
 The major ethical issues involved include infringement of human
privacy and threat to the dignity and respect of the patients
 According to the BCS Code of Conduct, the IT professionals must
consider the elements of public health, security, privacy and wellness of
the service users and the environment while working on a technology
(here, robot care nurses) (BCS.org 2019)

Legal Issues:
As mentioned by Holder et al. (2016), the legal issues involved with
the integration of robotic nursing into the healthcare system can
be explained as under:
 Issue of liability governed by the Directive 85/374/EEC (Defective
Product Directive)
 Legal issue of robot testing
 Privacy regulation of patient data (Data Protection Act)
 Electronic Personhood
 Standardization of the robotic technology

Social Issues:
 The social issues involved with the implementation of the robotic
nursing within a healthcare facility includes the following
(Ponchitra 2013):
 Improved patient dignity
 Reduced acceptance pertaining to lack of patient sympathy
 Compromised patient-centred care
 Reduced family support
 Reduced ability to tackle emergency situations
 Lack of decision making ability

Conclusion:
 Therefore, in conclusion it can be said that medical welfare
robots are not harmful but can be used to effectively treat
patients with chronic illness and disabilities. Thus, there is an
increasing need to adapt measures in order to improve the
quality of service delivery.

Recommendation:
 Promote research to improve human-robot interaction
 Implement robotic nursing with stringent monitoring and
evaluation