Imagine you're 90 years old, a grandmother of three and your husband can be old and sick. You need assistance with almost every part, getting out of a chair, going to the lavatory, getting dressed, eating, and remembering your medications. Despite the rise in life expectancy, aging is just not kind, and you're feeling a burden in your husband and the health care professionals who look after you.
Now, imagine being presented with a robot that might help with a lot of this stuff – from going to the lavatory to keeping track of your doctor's appointments. This robot's advanced artificial intelligence (AI) learns your preferences, knows your birthday and remembers your name. It sounds great, right? You will not feel like a burden to your spouse or depend upon caregivers to assist you shower.
This scenario may sound like the start of a sci-fi movie, but it surely's closer to reality than you may think. In Japan, in early 2018, a Survey It was revealed that elderly people living at home would favor a robot caregiver over humans.
of Japan The “super-aging” societyWhere the proportion of elderly people is growing faster than anywhere else on this planet. Immense pressure on the workforce. Advances in technology are stepping up to handle these challenges, but additionally current issues for the world The greatest health profession: Nurses
Perhaps understandably, the thought of ​​robot nurses raises concerns in a occupation built on the concept of “caring” that is commonly related to human interaction.
Fresh the study Indications from Australia are that exposing nursing students to the capabilities of technology raises concerns and concerns about care becoming less personal. The authors suggest that nurses have to be prepared to “redefine their nursing identity” and call for a “paradigm shift of nursing in the digital world.”
This tension was also evident in April 2024, when tons of of American nurses protested. Against using AI in hospitals. Protesters argue that AI tools are untested, unregulated and devalue nursing practice.
“No nurse should be replaced by a robot,” said one nurse, a sentiment that highlights a fundamental problem in health care today: Nurses are uncertain. About their role in a The digital world.
This uncertainty seems to have led some nurses to reject technologies – AI-based tools and robotics – that might improve patients' lives. A key query emerging from these tensions is what does “care” mean within the digital age?
Defining a universally agreed concept of caring might be difficult, but those that use the term often give attention to the human and emotional components of caring. In an influential book on nursing, Nursing as caring: A model for transformative practice (1993), defined caring as: “an essential characteristic and expression of being human. The belief that all individuals, by virtue of their humanity, care.”
This definition seems to rule out “care” provided by latest technology, comparable to robots, as care within the true sense. But most individuals would probably agree that denying people access to chemical technologies, comparable to life-saving drugs, can be considered unjustified and “uncaring”.
The capabilities of recent digital technologies, comparable to robotics, which might perform roles traditionally performed by human nurses, appear to elicit a unique response from nurses. This could also be on account of preconceived notions of care as a distinctly human focus, and since robots can provide tasks, comparable to providing social support to the elderly, considered “human nature”.
While robots and AI look like useful in Japan, the worldwide nursing occupation might have to rethink the role of technology in healthcare. As people live longer and grow to be more depending on health care professionals, a shrinking proportion of working-age people in lots of developed countries struggle to satisfy caregiving demands. Is. Digital technologies might help mitigate this challenge, but resistance to robotics and AI in nursing is compounding the issue of overstretching healthcare services.
However, historically, the healthcare sector has all the time been slow to adopt latest technology. For example, within the UK, using the Secretary of Health Co was banned. Fax machines In 2018-19, years after the arrival of email. Deadline to phase out fax machines by 2020 was also recalledHundreds are still in use as of late 2022.
In the case of robots, an analogous reluctance will not be acceptable to the growing number of people that may profit from these technologies, especially as the standard and capabilities of those technologies proceed to extend. The way forward for nursing lies in integrating human compassion with robotic efficiency, ensuring that everybody receives the care they need.
Florence NightingaleIn her book, The Founding of Modern Nursing Notes on Nursing, described his view of the essence of nursing care. Vague because it was, one thing was clear on this vision, that nurses should give attention to the patient's needs first and put all other concerns aside.
I say that these women were called to be nurses – first for the great of their sick, and second only to contemplate what it was their 'place' – and ladies who wait on housekeepers, or For the charwoman to do that, when their patients suffer, they shouldn't have to make a nurse.
It was 164 years ago.
As we stand getting ready to a brand new era in health care, defined by highly capable machines, it's critical that the nursing occupation overcomes knowledgeable identity crisis or confusing notions of care within the face of technological advancements. I don't let that get in the best way.
Nightingale advises that we must always not wait while our patients suffer. Embracing innovation while maintaining nursing's core value—putting the needs of the patient first—can make sure that its approach continues to evolve, meeting the needs of today's and tomorrow's patients.