Robots improve patient care in the ICU: physicians
July 11, 2012
(A) The remote clinician is controlling the robot at the bedside of a critically ill patient. (B) The monitor on the robot shows the face of the remote clinician performing real-time activities. Staff at the bedside can function as the “surrogate” examiner. (Credit: Eliza M. Reynolds/Telemedicine and e-Health)
Physicians who employ remote presence “robots” (actually, teleoperated devices) to supplement day-to-day patient care strongly support the positive clinical and social impact of using robots, according to a report published in Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
The article is available free on the Telemedicine and e-Health website.
“The technology used is a semi-autonomous, Internet-enabled, real-time, two-way audiovisual telecommunications platform that moves about in a wireless environment,” says the report. The ‘robots’ are enhanced with electronic stethoscopes and may be further enhanced with lights to illuminate the retina, pharynx, ear canal, or tympanic membrane. … The robots are controlled real-time by a remote physician at a ‘control station.’’’
“The integration of robotics in healthcare adds value to patient care and management of an in dividual’s health,” says Charles R. Doarn, MBA, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal and Research Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
The survey article entitled “Utilization of Robotic ‘Remote Presence’ Technology within North American Intensive Care Units” was conducted by investigators at InTouch Health (Santa Barbara, CA) and the Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine (Baltimore), found that most of the physicians utilizing robotic remote presence in the ICU were more senior staff who specialized in critical care medicine.
The authors report that all survey respondents intend to continue using the technology and believe that it improves patient care and patient and family satisfaction.
Comments (1)
by Phil Osborn
Has to be better than what I’ve gotten of late. I went in to the ER around midnight three months ago with severe abdominal pressure and pain, barely able to take a breath, with my blood pressure, which is normally about 115/65, spiking around 200/120. Turns out I had a “psuedo-obstruction” of the small intestine (meaning that the peristalis simply stopped somewhere in the thirty feet or so) and the only thing that they could do was stick a tube down into my stomach and pump it out for the next two days, until the relaxation of pressure returned my intestine to normal activity.
Meanwhile, with multiple empty rooms available, they stick me in a room with a LOUD guy, who is constantly calling for nurses. Every ten minutes or so, someone else would loudly enter, frequently bumping up against my bed, where I lay with tubes running into me in various painful ways. Then the guy staged a PARTY on the other side of the curtain, with half a dozen guests who were CHEERING and CLAPPING, starting well before the normal guest times, but this guy was some wheeler dealer with tons of money, so he did anything he wanted. The head shift nurse, right after I asked her if there was any way to quiet things down, joined in the party! The two days of virtual sleepless misery next to this guy took several weeks off my expected lifespan, I’m certain. I think that my experience resulted from the staff assuming that I must be indigent, because I hadn’t had time to change out of my work clothes, which were dirty. In fact, I had full coverage insurance, but they’re not supposed to know and didn’t ask. That makes two similar experiences in the past three years. In both cases, staff let pools of urine accumulate on the floor – not from me, BTW – and exhibited a totally callous attitude toward the patients depending on them.
So, bring on the bots! I suspect that robots will have more empathy.