I like robots too, but… July 30, 2007
Posted by keepbreathing in hospital, medicine, technology.trackback
I like robots. I think they’re cool and I think they will be much more widely used within the next fifty years or so in many small, unforeseen ways. And some robots could be really useful in the hospital, although I have my doubts about them being used as described in this article:
“The bare bones of the toddler robots already exist, in the form of a robot designed in Grupen’s lab called uBot-5. A few of these uBots are now being developed for use in assisted-living centers in research designed to see how the robots interact with the frail elderly. Each uBot-5 is about three feet tall, with a big head, very long arms (long enough to touch the ground, should the arms be needed for balance) and two oversize wheels. It has big eyes, rubber balls at the ends of its arms and a video screen for a face. (Breazeal’s version will have sleek torsos, expressive faces and realistic hands.) In one slide that Grupen uses in his PowerPoint presentations, the uBot-5 robot is holding a stethoscope to the chest of a woman lying on the ground after a simulated fall. The uBot is designed to connect by video hookup to a health care practitioner, but still, the image of a robot providing even this level of emergency medical care is, to say the least, disconcerting.”
I’m all for medical robots. Indeed, robotic equipment is used all the time in surgery, at least in some places. And I think that a robot designed to lift obese patients or assist with turns and manual labor would be a boon to medicine. But I don’t know about assessment-assistant robots like the one described. I guess it could go either way, but I’d be much more inclined to trust my own senses (bad and misleading as they sometimes are) before trusting an assessment robot.
On another note, I can only imagine the pandemonium that a robotic medical assistant could cause in, say, a dementia unit, or with a paranoid delusional patient. Maybe they’d like it, but maybe they wouldn’t…
What say you, loyal readers? What are your thoughts on medical robots?
I can see a demented patient going postal on said “toddler robot”, then freaking out because they thought they’d torn a child limb from limb.
I like to think that human touch counts for something. The humor we share with our patients, the empathy, the kindness, and, when they need it, the sternness. A robot can’t offer that. We can also make instant decision based on what we see, touch, and feel. Will a robot be able to explain to the “health care practitioner” that the patient is cold, clammy, and afraid? I don’t think so.
Robots are fine idea’s when it comes to some things. I’ve seen the footage of the robot who wanders hospitals, delivering medications for the pharmacists. Heck, they are even fun to play with. But to provide patient care? Not in my lifetime, I sincerely hope.
That was the first thought I had — elderly patients might not receive a strange toddler-sized robot with long arms and a screen for a face very well.
Heh-heh. I’m all for them in the psych ward and to take care of the drug seekers ! Now, you CAN’T tell the patients that they are anything but REAL nurses and doctors, okay ????
uBot? German Company?
A little too close to uBOATS, if you ask me….
I’m just waiting for the day when those things rise up and start torpedoing our merchant ships.
You know what would be really fun, though, would be Combative Patient BattleBots…
I can see it now….could you see the “assessment”
it would be like talking to the phone company’s automated answerer….
“Welcome to No Real MD’s county hospital, to begin using clinician robot, please press 1″
“if you are experiencing pain other than chest pain, please press 2″
“if you are experiencing nausea, please press 3″
“if you need assistance breathing, please press 4 and instructions will be printed out for you on how to properly use an ambu bag”
“if you don’t know what an ambu bag is, please press 5
“if you are experiencing chest pain, and need immediate assistance, please press 6 and an operator will be with you shortly”
“if you are a quadriplegic and can not press buttons, please press 9″
“I’m sorry, I did not get all your touchtones!”
“if you would like to hear the menu options again, please press #”
“when you are finished with clinician robot, please press * and a bill will be printed for you, clinician robot accepts cash in the form of US currency only, mastercard, visa and american express”
“Thank you for using clinician robot”
“have a nice day!”