JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — The world is dealing with a nursing crisis. And now, two out of three nurses in the US say they are considering leaving the profession. This comes as the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports we will need 200-thousand more nurses in the next ten years. Between burnout, retirement, and a growing aging population, there may not be enough nurses to handle the rising demand. One answer may be robots. Not to replace RN’s but to help them in tasks that take their time away from patients. Ivanhoe introduces us to Moxi—a robot that may fast become a nurse’s new best friend.
From retrieving supplies … Delivering food … And running for meds. Moxi is paving the way for robots in healthcare.
Aaron Miri, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Baptist Health explains, “We can’t just churn out more nurses and the demand is off the charts right now. So, how do you enable them to work smarter and not harder? So, Moxi is the quickest way to be able to do that.”
Moxi uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to roam halls and navigate people. Equipped with three locked drawers and an automated arm.
“Moxi is gonna be going to pharmacy and dietary to get food and supplements, medications for our clinical team to give to the patients so they don’t have to leave the area where they’re working.” Says Tammy Daniel, DNP, Baptist Health.
Recent studies show that nurses spend at least an hour a shift tracking down equipment. That’s where Moxi is making the biggest impact in hospitals like Baptist Health.
Daniel says, “When we walked just yesterday on the path that Moxi will go from pharmacy, it took about 15 minutes. So, when you multiply that by multiple times a day and then multiple times a week. “That’s more time spent with the patient, more time doing what we need to do for not only the patient, but our family members as well.”
Right now, Moxi is in 100 hospitals throughout the country, but there is concern robots may replace humans. A survey of nurses who worked with delivery robots found that roughly half worry that robots represent a threat to their jobs.
Gregg Springan of Diligent Robotics explains, “Every organization is looking at how they can best utilize the human staff that they have. Moxi can’t really replace the human touch.”
Right now, robots in healthcare are only utilized for repeat, time consuming tasks, without patient interaction. And experts believe robots roaming the halls may be the one of many solutions to a growing healthcare crisis.
MIRI says, “Put it this way, if Tesla made such an impact in the community by having autonomous cars, why can’t autonomous robots be the same effect for healthcare?”
At Cedars Sinai, within six weeks of the initial implementation, Moxi saved clinical teams nearly 300 miles of walking.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Videographer and Editor.
Sources:
https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-information/fact-sheets/nursing-shortage
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371290/
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdgth.2020.585656/full
MEET MOXI: A NURSE’S BEST FRIEND
REPORT #3028
BACKGROUND: There are more than three million registered nurses in the United States. In fact, nurses outnumber doctors 3:1 in the health care industry. Doctors often specialize in one area, while nurses can coordinate the care for all aspects of a patient’s overall health. Nurses have many duties that include caring for patients, communicating with doctors, administering medicine, and checking vital signs. When diagnostic results come in, it’s the nurse who usually reads them first and, if necessary, immediately notifies the appropriate doctor. A registered nurse is a nurse who has obtained a nursing degree, has passed the NCLEX-RN exam, and has fulfilled all other state licensing requirements. While an associate degree is the minimum education required to sit for the NCLEX-RN exam, a bachelor’s degree or higher is becoming more commonly preferred. The career growth for nursing is projected to increase by 16 percent in the next decade.
(Source: https://www.gmercyu.edu/academics/learn/what-do-nurses-do)
WHY THE NURSING SHORTAGE: Findings of a national survey revealed major truths about the nursing profession — most nurses say they feel burnt out, underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Only 12 percent of the nurses surveyed are happy where they are, and 36 percent would like to stay in their current positions, but changes would need to be made. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 9 percent from 2020 to 2030. Approximately 194,500 openings for registered nurses are projected each year, on average, over that decade. However, this number was projected prior to the pandemic. The number one reason nurses want to leave the bedside is because of unsafe staffing ratios which leads to a never-ending cycle of shortages. Essentially, nurses are dealing with an increased workload with fewer resources. Typically, pre-covid ICU nurses would experience a 1:1 or 2:1 patient-to-nurse ratio. Now ICU nurses throughout the country are experiencing a 3:1 or 4:1 patient-to-nurse ratio which intensifies staff burnout and unsafe nursing practices.
(Source: https://nurse.org/articles/nursing-shortage-study/)
WHAT’S AHEAD IN NURSING: Artificial intelligence, or AI, is computing hardware that can think for itself, and is changing the delivery of patient care. With AI, nurses may be able to personalize patient care through monitoring population health; pinpointing the best patient outcomes; administering treatments optimized for each patient; and finding evidence that pertains to the individual patient. AI in healthcare covers many areas in nursing like decision-making. AI helps nurses in carrying out appropriate measures for patient care using predictive analytics. AI can also cover diagnosis. IBM’s Watson for Health is using medical information from journals, case studies, and a database of symptoms and treatments to assist nurses with patient care. Early detection and end-of-life care are also areas which AI is helping. Robots with AI interact with the elderly to combat loneliness and social isolation, and are capable of serving, fetching, communicating, and offering emotional comfort. In the future, patients may enter an emergency department and be greeted by a computerized, triage nurse. The computer may apply advanced algorithms to ask the patient questions based on their answers. Robots may also be used to draw blood, develop real-time nurse schedules, or check room availability for admitting patients.
(Source: https://onlinedegree.uncw.edu/articles/nursing/artificial-intelligence-nursing.aspx)
* For More Information, Contact: Wesley Roberts
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