ISSN: 2755-0133

Journal of Medical & Clinical

Nursing

Review Article Open Access

The Use of Robotics in Healthcare

Tricia Bogossian

Specialist, Santa Ursula University in Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil

ABSTRACT
The present work aims, along the presented contents, to emphasize the use of robots within health, promoting assistance and assistance to health
professionals, and highlighting which processes can be consolidated with the use of technology. The general objective of the research is to highlight the
main aspects of the use of robotics in the health area, regarding the specific objectives, they are: to highlight the positive and negative aspects of the use
of robotics in health; assess how health professionals use robots in their routines; present the researchers’ view on robotic procedures in health. In the
methodological field, a literature review was carried out, highlighting some of the main concepts and addressing the vision of renowned authors on the
process of inclusion of technology within health organizations. It can be concluded that technology promotes the understanding of relevant points so
that treatments, processes and diagnoses are performed more effectively by health professionals.

*Corresponding author
Tricia Bogossian, Specialist, Santa Úrsula University in Rio deJaneiro-RJ, Brazil. E-mail: tricia.bogossian@hotmail.com

Received: November 05, 2022; Accepted: November 08, 2022; Published: November 12, 2022

keywords: Robotics, Health, Professionals Theoretical Framework

Technology in the Area of Health
Introduction The use of technological processes and procedures can be
When the social relevance of robotic applications is addressed considered inevitable for health organizations, with the creation
today, the use of assistive technology in nursing environments is and development of certain technological practices, everything
almost always the first example. Of all conceivable applications, pointed to the use of different areas in all possible fields. With the
the image of the humanoid robot that unfailingly fetches a glass emergence and development of new diseases, technologies began
of water for the elderly seems ubiquitous. to be seen as an opportunity to better understand and evaluate the
particularities of each case.
The claim that robots will help care for a growing elderly
population is never really questioned. However, despite this vision The computer came to be considered a fundamental technological
of the future, there is little evidence that these robots will exist tool for health agencies; its use provides greater security to
anytime soon. First, in technological terms, autonomous humanoid professionals in relation to the development data of their activity.
robots are nowhere near ready for use in care or other real-world As well as providing certain procedures that can be applied to help
settings that involve (physical) contact with people [1]. in the constitution of accurate reports of the activities carried out
and the procedures applied, as a way of observing if they are in
There is currently little demand for genuine care work done by accordance with the observed issues [2].
robots. Neither caregivers nor care recipients expressed an explicit
interest in robotics applications. Scenarios that propose this are Within the hospital and clinical routine, technologies have become
generally rejected. In addition, there are many questions about a very important resource, giving professionals an opportunity
ethical and legal issues. for greater knowledge or understanding of symptoms, treatments
and medications to be implemented in the hospital routine. In
The general objective of the work is to highlight the main aspects of the clinics, it appears that digital resources have become one of
the use of robotics in the health area, as for the specific objectives, the most important and necessary, in the search for an effective
they are: to highlight the positive and negative aspects of the and efficient diagnosis, giving individuals an opportunity to
use of robotics in health; assess how health professionals use obtain treatment that is more aligned with their situation and
robots in their routines; present the researchers’ view on robotic promoting stability in the activities promoted by the patients.
procedures in health. Health professionals.

For a better theoretical foundation, a literature review was carried It is worth mentioning that some medical instruments are currently
out, highlighting some of the main concepts and relevant analyzes technological, something that promotes a broader observation of
on the insertion of technology in the health environment. Being used the clinical part, as well as promoting a more specialized report
mainly works published over the last 10 years, consolidating the on the observed points. As is the case with endoscopy, resonance,
benefits of using robots and technology in the health environment. x-ray, among other tests that are currently performed by machines
in line with the observations of health professionals.

J Medi Clin Nurs, 2022 Volume 3(5): 1-4

Citation: Tricia Bogossian (2022) The Use of Robotics in Healthcare. Journal of Medical & Clinical Nursing. SRC/JMCN-172. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JMCN/2022(3)157

There are many exams that are performed or applied through To understand how robotics can matter, one must first understand
the use of digital resources, giving health professionals a more the challenge of building robots for everyday worlds. For the
detailed understanding and verification of the patient’s condition theoretical, methodological and technical instruments of robotics,
and needs. In the view of some researchers, the interaction between everyday worlds – such as care settings – are at the absolute outer
clinical procedures and technologies was essential for stability in limits of workability.
the health of individuals, something that has been gaining more
and more relevance [2]. Designers’ understanding of the social situation becomes the core
of epistemic practices in social robotics. Both the attractions and
Nurses have been working in the field of informatics for nearly the problems of robot care therefore reside in the fact that robot
four decades, the term “nursing informatics” has been considered a care goes beyond the previous limits and possibilities of robotics:
specialization in nursing resources since 1984. Many aspects such if care robotics were understood primarily as a technical enterprise,
as data retrieval, ethics, patient care, decision support systems, to what extent? its conditions configured the users addressed and
human-computer interaction, information systems, informatics, the situation of use would remain invisible [6].
informatics, information science, security, electronic patient
record, intelligent systems, e-learning and telenursing were added In seeking to describe and explain this epistemic context of
to the field. The competence of nursing informatics specialists was robot development for assistive robotics, the main challenge is
determined by studying three categories, including informatics to show what roboticists actually do – that is, how they try to fix
skills, informatics knowledge, and informatics skills. It investigates social phenomena like care technically and scientifically. To do
four levels of nursing practice: novice nurse, experienced nurse, so, we will briefly describe typical robot development patterns
informatics specialist and informatics innovator [3]. for service scenarios. These two cases show how the addressed
users are configured by development practices and how the social
The following competencies were rejected: diagnostic coding, institutionalization of care practices facilitates the development
desktop publishing, managing central facilities to enable data and implementation of robotic scenarios [7].
sharing, and writing an original computer program. Some
components of accepted competencies are summarized below. To understand how the epistemic conditions of health robotics
affect the practice of research and development, we conducted
Selected computer skills competencies include computerized ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in five health robotics
surveys and retrieval of patient demographics, use of projects in Europe and the United States [5].
telecommunication devices, documentation of patient care, use
of information technologies to improve nursing care, and use of At first glance, assistive robotics projects look very similar:
networks and technology computer safely. robots are used in care settings and results are measured. The
characteristic difference that we will show in two examples is how
The selected competencies of informatics knowledge are the care is operationalized as a design goal – either as a successful
recognition of the use or importance of nursing data for the measurable intervention in a field of practice or as a technical
improvement of practice, and the recognition of the fact that challenge.
the computer can only facilitate nursing care and that there are
human functions that cannot be performed. by computers, the Robotics is one of the most advanced and emerging technologies
formulation of decisions in computing, the recognition of the in the field of medicine. Embedded electronic sensors with
value of the involvement of physicians in the design, selection, control combination in mechanical systems greatly increase the
implementation and evaluation of health systems, the description performance and flexibility of the systems. The robotic technology
of current manual systems, the definition of the impact of the used for the movement of the arms was inaccurate and unable to
management of computerized information on the role of the send the exact sensory feedback, exact movement and positioning.
nurse and the determination of the limitations and reliability of With advances in hardware, software and control programming
computerized patient monitoring systems [4]. systems, extensive automation is being utilized to operate with
more degrees of freedom than humans under a wider range of
The advantages of applying information technology to all aspects conditions.
of nursing, including clinical areas, management, education and
research, and its influence on health care were reviewed. Today, Applying Robotics in the Health Routine
the topics of clinical nursing information systems, decision support Projects with the objective of applying service robots aim to
systems and medical diagnostic systems are associated with the implement human-robot interaction in a practical way in a concrete
collection of patient information. In relation to the technology-rich scenario. This typology is often characterized by the participation
environment, to the developers of hospital and health information of non-technical specialists – for example, from gerontology,
systems, the quality of care is improving. nursing science or medicine. Assistance robotics of this type is
understood as pioneering research that prepares and tests the use of
Robotic Engineering robots in care and tends to generalize from the specific application
It is shown how the idea and objective of care robotics can become scenario for which they design [8].
a catalyst both at the discursive level for innovation policies and at
the organizational level for the field of care. The desirability of care In these development processes, users such as the nursing staff
robots is fueled by a third strand, the epistemic conditions of robot or family members, who are actually secondary and tertiary
development. When building robots for applications outside the users, become relevant to engineers. This is because the specific
laboratories, their developers are subject to specific sociotechnical application and testing areas of such projects are located in highly
conditions that form a subsequent context for service robots both institutionalized environments such as care facilities or wards. The
discursively and overtly [5]. necessary formalization of human-robot interaction, therefore,
often occurs according to the organizational and institutional
conditions of care practices [9].
J Medi Clin Nurs, 2022 Volume 3(5): 2-4
Citation: Tricia Bogossian (2022) The Use of Robotics in Healthcare. Journal of Medical & Clinical Nursing. SRC/JMCN-172. DOI: doi.org/10.47363/JMCN/2022(3)157

The decision to use the paro robot was made based on its Humanoid Robots
availability for use, especially as it was CE certified and therefore Humanoids presented a particularly interesting illustration of the
met insurance requirements. However, on the way to the field, the tension between human hopes and expectations of robots and
researchers faced some rejections regarding the use of the robot the apprehension of their use in healthcare settings. They also
in specific care facilities. represent an important socio-technical example, as the human
and technical dimensions blur together in challenging and highly
Nursing staff members did not want to participate in the study visible ways [11].
or relatives did not give written consent to allow their senile
parents or grandparents to participate in the experiment. Therefore, The main goal of some robotics researchers is to build robots that
the research team decided to wait until the Ministry of Health resemble people, both in body and behavior. Until now, however,
approved the research protocol [1]. the most used robots in robotics research have been manipulator
robots, mobile robots and robots with legs. On the other hand,
The project did not seek to compare different robots or robot in recent years, Japanese industry has made so many strides in
characteristics. The motivation was rather to carry out and building humanoid robots that we have to ask ourselves what
test the use of a robot in the care of hospitalized patients. The role these robots might play in the future of robotics society [12].
operationalization of the effectiveness measure clarifies the type
of reference to the field of application: The members of the nursing The main advantage of using humanoid robots is that this type
team should assess through questionnaires whether the use of robots of robot can work directly in the same environment as humans,
influenced (positively) the nursing routine. In addition, a scale of without having to make any changes to that environment, unlike
medical indication of the well-being of patients with dementia was what currently happens with manipulator and mobile robots.
applied, which was also based on team assessments [8]. Furthermore, as most utensils, machines and environments (office,
home, subway, cinema, street, etc.) are adapted for human use,
Robotic innovations are currently being introduced in several areas they will also be adapted for use by humanoid robots [11].
that specifically influence the understanding and consideration of
patient care. Robotic technology in medicine is the main focus Another important aspect is that the means of locomotion of
of healthcare services in ICUs, general rooms and operating humanoid robots can be adapted to their environment. If the
room, which reduces risks for patients, doctors and is also used environment in which it will be incorporated does not contain
in laboratories for sample collection followed by sample transport, obstacles and the ground is smooth, you can use a humanoid robot
if necessary, analysis and preservation for long-term storage [9]. that moves with wheels, while if it is a real environment (stairs,
uneven terrain, etc.) a bipedal humanoid.
Health services provided by robotics become complex and critical
with regard to information sharing, data communication and Currently, research with humanoid robots is more focused on
distribution of sensor data. Internet of Medical Robotics Things bipedal locomotion than on cognition, when it is known that both
(IoMRT) approaches have incorporated robots as a “thing” aspects were linked during human evolution, as it was bipedal
and build connections with new communications such as Li-Fi walking that allowed hominids to release their hands in order
technology and web information technology. to create and manipulate tools and thus develop cognition [13].

Robot deployments in healthcare environments are likely to In bipedal locomotion of humanoid robots, the zero moment point
increase due to increasing technological capabilities, their reduced or Zero Moment Point (ZMP) is the point in relation to which the
costs, and increasing pressure to reduce costs. However, robots dynamic reaction force at the foot contact with the ground does
are potentially highly disruptive innovations and, therefore, it is not produce any moments, but the total reaction forces. Equal to
important to understand the socio-technical challenges that may be zero. Therefore, the ZMP is an indicator of the robot’s stability:
encountered as robots are deployed to find mitigation strategies [1]. if it is in the shadow of the robot’s foot, the movement is stable,
otherwise it is unstable.
Sociotechnical approaches to studying technology implementation
see social and technical factors shaping each other over time. It is In addition, active-static locomotion uses all the humanoid’s
assumed that technologies are shaped by their social environments degrees of freedom to perform the movement of walking, therefore,
(e.g., through projects being modified), but also that social it requires a continuous consumption of the motors of all the joints
environments are shaped by technological resources (e.g., when (including those of the arms), a control and, synchronization in
users’ work practices change as a result of change). introduction real time. To reduce the complexity of active-static locomotion,
of technology). the number of active degrees of freedom in the humanoid can be
reduced, the energy from the previous step can be used to generate
Silva and Caetano (2020) stated that the field of robotics in the next one, etc.
healthcare environments was still in its infancy and the shift in
the role to EHRs currently has a strategic priority over investments Passive-dynamic locomotion, on the other hand, is based on the
in robotics. Specifically, the most innovative developments strategy humans use for walking: letting the legs swing and then
around humanoids were still a long way off in terms of routine adding a small force to compensate for the swing, preventing
deployment in healthcare and care settings, while service robots falling and achieving a smooth walking motion. The disadvantage
were seen as having the greatest near-term promise. However, it of this type of locomotion is that its movements are made in a
was also recognized that there was significant potential and the straight line, making it difficult to turn, return, sit, etc.
pace of developments, as well as the increasing convergence of
applications, meant that robotics was likely to become a routine Conclusion
aspect of healthcare delivery at some point [10]. In today’s world, the potential for the application of information
and communication technology is increasing to improve the
quality of outcomes in nursing domains. Nurses communicate
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Copyright: ©2022 Tricia Bogossian. This is an open-access article distributed

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