Nurse Robot, A Conspiracy Theory

[PintheD]

Many nurses feel scripting is insulting to those who are forced to recite, as well as the recipients of these canned insincere phrases. Currently there is a thread reflecting this exactly. I, too, find it insufferable for obvious reasons. I'm wondering, though, if this trend of scripting is not setting the ground work for something bigger that will change the landscape of patient care and set the world of nursing on its ear. Specifically, are we required to sound like robots to pave the way for robots? If I had read a post suggesting this two short weeks ago I would have ignored it as futuristic crazy talk. Not so today. Go with me on this...

My nephew is studying computer programming out of state. I picked him up from the airport before Christmas and then spent 5 hours in the car with him driving him home for the holidays. He talked. A lot. He's a very bright kid and I really enjoyed listening to him and conversing about the things that weren't over my head. We got on the topic of nursing and he casually states "soon robots will be doing much of that work". I was incredulous but later, when I had time to do a bit of research I found this:

http://www.switched.com/2010/10/29/actroid-f-nurse-robot-smiles-creepy/

A robot being developed to go around assessing patient satisfaction! Now I agree she looks more like a person pretending to be a robot but this company has won awards for this prototype. Yes, she has a long way to go before she is hospital-ready, but what is that time frame - next year, two years, ten years? And she is just the beginning. An additional cursory search revealed a prototype robot giving a (crude) bed bath.

Think about it. We, as nurses and nursing assistants, are an unavoidable expense to the hospital. Doesn't it make sense that huge R&D dollars would be spent to find a way around this? Personally I don't see this kind of technology infiltrating all aspects of bedside care but can see the possibility of it making a huge dent in current nursing functions. Again, timeframe? Don't know. But I think scripting could be a tool to pave the way for this eventual transformation.

Radical, I know. If nothing else I find this topic ripe for debate not to mention a further incentive to unionize now to protect our jobs in the future. What do you think?

[karamarie91]

They look like robots. The one that collects the charts is a big box with a painted on face (not a human face) and it talks. It's really creepy, especially when it gets off the elevator by itself. The one that brings the meal trays is a choo-choo train and sounds just like it. They load it in the cafeteria and it's programmed to go to the elevator and get off on whatever floor it's meant to go to. Then an employee retrieves it on whatever floor it gets to and actually hands out the meals. It's not sophisticated enough to deliver the trays to the patients yet.

This just made me lol

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

HAhahaha.. that is hysterical!

MY function is astute assessment of the HUMAN condition and providing HUMAN compassion.

That will never be replaced .

What a waste of money.

My thoughts exactly. I think that every time I see one and especially when I get emails about how much $$ the hospital needs to cut from its budget to stay afloat. And, on the same day that they send emails telling their staff how poor they are, they post on their facebook page about how much money they're spending on technology, including new robots. Give me a break.

[PintheD]

for nursing to be considered as a "caring" profession, the juxtaposition of robotic intervention, just seems to defy the very core of what a vital part of nursing is allegedly supposed to encompass.

i'm glad i won't be around if/when this comes into full force.

leslie

I couldn't agree more Leslie, however hospitals are not reimbursed for "caring" or "compassion", both human qualities imperative to the profession of nursing, but not to the bottom line. With current staffing trends is there any consideration given to the time required to adequately "nurse" patients? In my experience sadly no. Yes, we do what we can do in this regard, but which of us is not overwhelmed with task oriented mandates? Our systems are currently designed to minimize the human aspect of the job.

Thank you KelRN215 for the further insight. I remain fascinated!

[Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

That was fascinating and creepy at the same time.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

I was initially drawn to this thread because, like PintheD, I wondered what is behind scripting, I had seen the video of the Japanese humanoid robot nurse prior to this thread and I too had wondered if scrpting was a brain washing technique to help pave the way for patients to accept interacting with robots, but I rejected this thought and accepted that scripting is a marketing strategy that attempts to influence patient satsfaction survey outcomes. I do not have any experience with scripting and would resist it if my employer tried to introduce it in my workplace. That being said, this thread has intrigued me, and opened my mind to exploring the future of artificial intelligence and nursing, so thanks PintheD for staring the discussion. If anyone else is interested, I found a wealth of information, on a university website that includes some very interesting videos on artificial intelligence and nursing. Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Videos: The BSN Nursing Program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

[PintheD]

Thanks dishes for the link. Interesting stuff.