Robots Join Nursing Staffs At Hospitals Around The Country
Technology in the 21st century is leaping into new territory, filling the void of nursing shortages around the globe. Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is paving the way in healthcare in the operating room and roaming the hall. Since the COVID pandemic, the world has been dealing with a nursing crisis. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports revealed the country will need more than 250-thousand additional nurses by 2030. The report projected that nursing is and will remain the faster-growing occupation through 2026.
There is a massive demand for nurses around the world. Where will they come from when there is already a shortage? If nurses aren't reaching retirement age, two out of three in the U.S. are considering leaving the profession because they are burnt out. To deal with this growing healthcare crisis, hospitals around the country are deploying A.I. assistance to help fill the void.
The socially intelligent robot is called Moxi. It is designed specifically to be a nurses-aid and do all the footwork so that the nurses have more time with their patients. So far, Moxi is making a huge difference in the workload!
The rising demand and burnout from long hours and staff shortages a taking a toll on healthcare quality at the nation's hospitals. Moxi robots seem to be one answer to solving this issue. The robot is not an RN replacement. It is an assistant that can take over tasks like retrieving supplies, delivering food, and running for meds.
Moxi is paving the way for robots in healthcare in more than 100 hospitals and counting. This A.I. is joining another wing in healthcare that is struggling to keep up due to staff shortages. Pharmacies! The Moxi robot is helping to end long lines and wait times at pharmacies around the country. The socially intelligent machine helps by sorting medication refills and making labels.
Since 2018 the clinical staff on the neurology floor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas have been working with Moxi nurse assistants. They were the first hospital in the U.S. to deploy the robot. Moxi does various jobs like delivering admissions kits, fetching and gathering lab specimens to picking up and dropping off hospital linen bags.
Aaron Miri, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Baptist Health, said innovation and technology are the future of healthcare. As for the nursing shortage, he said, “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.”
The next time you visit a hospital, don't be surprised if a few robots pass you in the hallway. Would it bother you if your nurse isn't human!