Annotated Bibliography on Technology in Nursing

Posted: August 27th, 2021

Annotated Bibliography on Technology in Nursing

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Course

Instructor

Due Date

Annotated Bibliography on Robotics in Nursing

Robotic technology is increasingly being adopted in healthcare settings with rigorous research and development being undertaken in earnest. Although the first robot was used in a healthcare setting in the 1980s, the technology has advanced immensely since then, courtesy of emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence, sensors, and machine learning (Carter‐Templeton, et al., 2018). Despite their promise of supplementing the ongoing shortage of nurses, especially in developed countries, nurse robots create anxiety among nursing professionals, who fear that they might be replaced and declared redundant over time. Nonetheless, robot nurses are yet to be fully deployed in healthcare facilities as their development is still in the experimental and pilot stages. I was attracted to this topic because despite the immense advancements in robot technology, the deployment of robot nurses remains minimal and rare in healthcare facilities. This annotated bibliography provides insights into the development and deployment of nurse robots, and the benefits and challenges they promise, and specifically how robotics would enhance quality and safety standards for patients. Five peer-reviewed articles authored in the last five years were retrieved from online databases using Google Scholar and Microsoft Academic search engines. The keywords used in the online search included nurse robots, robots in healthcare, robots and nurses, and nursing robotics.

Carter‐Templeton, H., Frazier, R. M., Wu, L., & H. Wyatt, T. (2018). Robotics in nursing: a bibliometric analysis. Journal of Nursing Scholarship50(6), 582-589. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12399

This article describes the current evidence related to the deployment of robots to help in nursing care. Carter‐Templeton et al. (2018) contend that there was sufficient evidence indicating that robot were being deployed beyond regular day-to-day repetitive activities to include more specialized ones that required autonomous decision-making. However, although robotics had been well integrated into the medical spheres, such as surgery and physiotherapy, they were yet to be fully integrated into the nursing field, and most applications were still in the experimentation or plot stages. Nonetheless, Carter‐Templeton et al. (2018) revealed that nursing robot were being deployed as patient companions, to ease patients’ discomfort and symptoms and improve their quality of life while at the medical facility. More specifically, robots were being used to assist nurses to care for the elderly and those suffering from dementia.  

This article was selected for its projections about the application of robotics in nursing care. Carter‐Templeton et al. (2018) indicated that robot nurses held great potential in improving nursing efficiency and outcomes. They also argued that the field held great potential for development and deployment if nurses could be involved in the designing of robots based on the needs of nurses in practice (Carter‐Templeton et al., 2018).

Haubold, A. K., Obst, L., & Bielefeldt, F. (2020). Introducing service robotics in inpatient geriatric care—a qualitative systematic review from a human resources perspective. Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)51(3), 259-271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11612-020-00523-z

This article discusses the issues surrounding the introduction of service robots in healthcare settings, and particularly in geriatric nursing environments. Haubold, Obst and Bielefeldt (2020) indicate that because western countries were facing nurse shortages, there was need to adopt nurse robots to plug the shortfall in nursing personnel. However, Haubold, Obst and Bielefeldt (2020)  reveal that such robot required human being for their implementation and application. Therefore, the human resource management in healthcare facilities has a critical role to play in having technologically aware nurses who could work alongside nurse robots and ensure that their deployment was effective and successful. In this regard, Haubold, Obst and Bielefeldt (2020) give recommendations on implementing service robots in geriatric care. They suggest that careful planning should be undertaken before robot nurses deployment because of its significant influence on human resource policies related to the management of workflow, staff training, and workplanning. Haubold, Obst and Bielefeldt (2020) also reveal that implementing robot nurses needed to address human-oriented and ethical concerns and ensure that these aspects were balanced. Similarly, robot nurse deployment needed to consider and balance the diverse interests of stakeholders. Finally, Haubold, Obst and Bielefeldt (2020) suggested that monitoring the long-term effect of deploying robot nurse was critical, to determine its influence on individual nurses, nursing work teams and the healthcare organization. This article was selected because it provided critical insights into the human resources issues surrounding the deployment of nurse robots in elderly care.

Maibaum, A., Bischof, A., Hergesell, J., & Lipp, B. (2021). A critique of robotics in health care. AI & society, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01206-z

The article dwells on the controversy presented by deployment of robots as assistive technology in healthcare settings. Maibaum et al. (2021) contend that social robotics and elderly care are interconnected in the areas of robotics engineering, healthcare organizations, and innovation policy. They argue that care robots have helped resolve an age-old elderly care conflict between professional-ethical interests and economics. Care robots can reduce the cost of healthcare by performing repetitive tasks repeatedly without tiring and salaries, unlike their human counterparts. This study is important because it reveals the perceptions about robots in healthcare settings, which are not pegged on their abilities alone, but also in their socially-constructed perceptions.

This article was selected for its incisive insights into the arena in which healthcare robotics are considered and implemented. The paper brings a political, social and historical angle of the issues influencing the deployment of robots in elderly care settings. Maibaum et al. (2021) contend that these three areas must be addressed to facilitate the acceptance and adoption of nursing robots in geriatric care.

Servaty, R., Kersten, A., Brukamp, K., Möhler, R., & Mueller, M. (2020). Implementation of robotic devices in nursing care. Barriers and facilitators: an integrative review. BMJ Open10(9), e038650. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038650

The article focuses on the facilitators and barriers of implementing and deploying robots in nursing settings. Using a systematic review of current literature, Servaty et al. (2020) unearth the main barriers and facilitators of implementing robot devices in diverse nursing settings. The main barriers revealed by Servaty et al. (2020) included the high cost of acquiring the robots and their acceptance by the healthcare care fraternity, patients and society. Similarly, Servaty et al. (2020) revealed that privacy concerns, anxiety about loss of human control by healthcare practitioners were some of the most prevalent ethical concerns. Others included the loneliness and isolation that patients would be subjected to because of reduced social contact between nurses and patients. Conversely, facilitators included training, comprehensive needs assessment, and user engagement in innovation.

Servaty et al. (2020) reveal that there was need to conduct numerous high-quality randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving the deployment of robots in nursing settings to provide scientific evidence and spur informed discussions amount the healthcare stakeholders. Servaty et al. (2020) concluded that the findings from their believe that their findings from their study are applicable on formulating strategies suitable for minimizing the barriers and supporting the facilitators for implementing robotics in nursing practice. 

Tan, S. Y., & Taeihagh, A. (2020). Governing the adoption of robotics and autonomous systems in long-term care in Singapore. Policy and society, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2020.1782627

The article dwells on the adoption of robots in long-term care, and the risks and unintended consequences it portends. Tan and Taeihagh (2020) employ a case study approach in their research to obtain an in-depth perception of the challenges of implementing robots in nursing care in Singapore. Tan and Taeihagh (2020) reveal that the burgeoning elderly population in Singapore had increased the demand for social care, and robotics and other autonomous technologies were being looked upon as viable alternatives in an environment characterized by nurse shortages. They revealed that Singapore was ready to adopt robots in their healthcare settings by creating a regulatory framework to facilitate experimentations and pilot deployment. The positive outlook towards robotics in nursing care has led to environing of a positive robot-human coexistence by the related stakeholders. Tan and Taeihagh (2020) argue that nursing robots could facilitate healthcare teamwork because they would free nurses to provide individualized care while the robot performed routine and manual activities. This article was selected for its insights into what some countries were doing to prepare and promote the adoption of nurse robots in their healthcare systems. It also isolates and explains the risks and ethical issues presented by adopting robots in long-term care of the elderly.  

Conclusion

Although robotics applicable in nursing environments are under development with some having been trialed in many countries, their adoption has been plagued with suspicion, trepidation, ambiguity, and uncertainties. These articles demonstrated that that nursing robots held great potential in addressing nurse shortages and improving the quality of care and teamwork by releasing nurses to perform the more personalized tasks while they undertook the routing and repetitive ones. However, the review revealed that the regulatory framework was yet to be developed and the adoption of robots in nursing environments lacked regulatory and policy support.   

References

Carter‐Templeton, H., Frazier, R. M., Wu, L., & H. Wyatt, T. (2018). Robotics in nursing: a bibliometric analysis. Journal of Nursing Scholarship50(6), 582-589. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12399

Haubold, A. K., Obst, L., & Bielefeldt, F. (2020). Introducing service robotics in inpatient geriatric care—a qualitative systematic review from a human resources perspective. Gruppe. Interaktion. Organisation. Zeitschrift für Angewandte Organisationspsychologie (GIO)51(3), 259-271. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11612-020-00523-z

Maibaum, A., Bischof, A., Hergesell, J., & Lipp, B. (2021). A critique of robotics in health care. AI & society, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-021-01206-z

Servaty, R., Kersten, A., Brukamp, K., Möhler, R., & Mueller, M. (2020). Implementation of robotic devices in nursing care. Barriers and facilitators: an integrative review. BMJ open10(9), e038650. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-038650

Tan, S. Y., & Taeihagh, A. (2020). Governing the adoption of robotics and autonomous systems in long-term care in Singapore. Policy and society, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/14494035.2020.1782627

Expert paper writers are just a few clicks away

Place an order in 3 easy steps. Takes less than 5 mins.

Calculate the price of your order

You will get a personal manager and a discount.
We'll send you the first draft for approval by at
Total price:
$0.00