We utilized a quadruped robotic system (Dr. Spot, Boston Dynamics, Waltham A) to evaluate patients in the emergency department in a contactless manner.
In the era of social distancing, using robots for some health care interactions is a promising way to reduce in-person contact between health care workers and sick patients. However, a key question that needs to be answered is how patients will react to a robot entering the exam room.
Researchers from MIT and Brigham and Women’s Hospital recently set out to answer that question. In a study performed in the emergency department at Brigham and Women’s, the team found that a large majority of patients reported that interacting with a health care provider via a video screen mounted on a robot was similar to an in-person interaction with a health care worker.
“We’re actively working on robots that can help provide care to maximize the safety of both the patient and the health care workforce. The results of this study give us some confidence that people are ready and willing to engage with us on those fronts,” says Giovanni Traverso, an MIT assistant professor of mechanical engineering, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the senior author of the study.
In a larger online survey conducted nationwide, the researchers also found that a majority of respondents were open to having robots not only assist with patient triage but also perform minor procedures such as taking a nose swab.
Peter Chai, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a research affiliate in Traverso’s lab, is the lead author of the study, which appears today in JAMA Network Open.
Triage by robot
After the Covid-19 pandemic began early last year, Traverso and his colleagues turned their attention toward new strategies to minimize interactions between potentially sick patients and health care workers. To that end, they worked with Boston Dynamics to create a mobile robot that could interact with patients as they waited in the emergency department. The robots were equipped with sensors that allow them to measure vital signs, including skin temperature, breathing rate, pulse rate, and blood oxygen saturation. The robots also carried an iPad that allowed for remote video communication with a health care provider.
This kind of robot could reduce health care workers’ risk of exposure to Covid-19 and help to conserve the personal protective equipment that is needed for each interaction. However, the question still remained whether patients would be receptive to this type of interaction.
“Often as engineers, we think about different solutions, but sometimes they may not be adopted because people are not fully accepting of them,” Traverso says. “So, in this study we were trying to tease that out and understand if the population is receptive to a solution like this one.”
The researchers first conducted a nationwide survey of about 1,000 people, working with a market research company called YouGov. They asked questions regarding the acceptability of robots in health care, including whether people would be comfortable with robots performing not only triage but also other tasks such as performing nasal swabs, inserting a catheter, or turning a patient over in bed. On average, the respondents stated that they were open to these types of interactions.
The researchers then tested one of their robots in the emergency department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital last spring, when Covid-19 cases were surging in Massachusetts. Fifty-one patients were approached in the waiting room or a triage tent and asked if they would be willing to participate in the study, and 41 agreed. These patients were interviewed about their symptoms via video connection, using an iPad carried by a quadruped, dog-like robot developed by Boston Dynamics. More than 90 percent of the participants reported that they were satisfied with the robotic system.
“For the purposes of gathering quick triage information, the patients found the experience to be similar to what they would have experienced talking to a person,” Chai says.
Robotic assistants
The numbers from the study suggest that it could be worthwhile to try to develop robots that can perform procedures that currently require a lot of human effort, such as turning a patient over in bed, the researchers say. Turning Covid-19 patients onto their stomachs, also known as “proning,” has been shown to boost their blood oxygen levels and make breathing easier. Currently the process requires several people to perform. Administering Covid-19 tests is another task that requires a lot of time and effort from health care workers, who could be deployed for other tasks if robots could help perform swabs.
“Surprisingly, people were pretty accepting of the idea of having a robot do a nasal swab, which suggests that potential engineering efforts could go into thinking about building some of these systems,” Chai says.
The MIT team is continuing to develop sensors that can obtain vital sign data from patients remotely, and they are working on integrating these systems into smaller robots that could operate in a variety of environments, such as field hospitals or ambulances.
Original Article: The (robotic) doctor will see you now
More from: Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Brigham and Women’s Hospital
The Latest Updates from Bing News & Google News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Health care robots
- One Healthcare Company’s Billion Dollar Story in Southern Dallas County
By investing in technology and their employees, Medline is doing big business and sees continued success in North Texas.
- In ‘Tech Tank,’ a new home for testing amphibious robots, other innovations
Although the tank is managed by the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, it will be open to researchers in all fields, both at Yale and beyond. The tank is the latest development in Yale ...
- The rise of robots
Robots are emerging as the next frontier, but can they replace humans? Various research and studies have shown that the next frontier in Artificial intelligence is the Robots. Much more added to it ...
- Robotics, artificial intelligence playing larger role in Cy-Fair hospitals
Local health care experts said they are seeing earlier detection and more efficient treatment of patients with conditions—including respiratory, gastrointestinal and brain disease—as the use of ...
- MIT Researchers Develop New Way to Shape-Shift Soft Robots at Will
Inspired by the Pokémon Ditto, researchers at MIT have developed a method that enables them to control shapeshifting soft robots at will. Like Ditto, their theoretical blob robot can morph into any ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Health care robots
[google_news title=”” keyword=”health care robots” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Robot health assistants
- Manipulation technology makes home-helper robot possible
Parents spend roughly 300 hours each year cleaning up after their kids. That's nearly two weeks that could be otherwise spent doing anything else. Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University's ...
- In ‘Tech Tank,’ a new home for testing amphibious robots, other innovations
Although the tank is managed by the Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science, it will be open to researchers in all fields, both at Yale and beyond. The tank is the latest development in Yale ...
- In preparation for the start of a robotic surgery project at Mayo Hospital, King Edward Medical University moves PC-1.
Lahore: To begin robotic surgery, a new minimally invasive procedure, the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) has moved a PC-I of the project to the Punjab health department. This makes the Mayo ...
- A better way to control shape-shifting soft robots
A new machine-learning technique can train and control a reconfigurable soft robot that can dynamically change its shape to complete a task. The researchers also built a simulator that can evaluate ...
- The Pros & Cons of Robotic Knee Replacement Surgery
Patients who had a robot-assisted knee replacement stayed in the hospital nearly a half-day less, and were significantly less likely to develop complications like infections, excessive blood loss, and ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Robot health assistants
[google_news title=”” keyword=”robot health assistants” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PL0UjJ07OSXC83oV409r1yRju8-ihA1InJ&layout=gallery[/embedyt]