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Healthcare institutions are increasingly adopting robots to optimize service delivery. While robots don’t come with intuitive ability, they have been lauded for taking on repetitive and non-complex tasks, which would otherwise have required manpower. In addition, they have accelerated and enhanced task completion since they’re fast and precise. There are numerous areas in the healthcare industry where robots can be applied as illustrated below.
Robots in Recovery Medicine
The robotic industry has various types of wearable robots such as exoskeletons. These structures can come in handy to help patients with extent of motion. They are especially useful for recovery and physiotherapy procedures such as training patients with disease-induced paralysis (such as spinal cord injury, stroke, or brain injury) to walk again.
Soft robotic gloves are wearable robots which assist patients with persistent musculoskeletal or neuromuscular disorders and who are incapable of holding objects. Robot-aided recovery therapy accelerates the patient’s healing process and assumes bulky tasks such as carrying the patients during therapy care. Recovery robot arms for victims of neurological disorders and stroke are also available. They assist patients to execute recovery exercises concurrently, as well as provide a 3-D video gaming action.
A wearable robot arm comes with various patient-specific frameworks such as motion range and amount of force used. These help caregivers to tailor make treatments depending on the individual progress relayed on the robots.
Robotic Telemedicine
Telemedicine describes the utilization of information technology and telecommunication to dispense healthcare from a distance. This technology comes in handy especially in rural areas where individuals have trouble accessing medical services due to distance barriers. Telemedicine also comes helps to save lives especially for victims of emergency circumstances and those needing critical care. It makes it easier for medical staff and patients to conveniently communicate and exchange imaging, health, and medical data from one region to the other.
Remote areas are faced with a shortage of medical staff and poor access to specialized healthcare. This is where the use of robots in telemedicine comes in. Telerobots are made to ease patient communication, monitoring, and prompt specialized care remotely. Patients living in remote areas can then access specialized and emergency consultations for various complications such as critical burns, cardiovascular related complications, and stroke when the need arises.
Robots help consultants to access, review, examine data remotely, communicate with fellow healthcare providers and patients, and give consultations. The robots are efficient and can send the caregivers alerts according to the data they read while examining the patient. Robot manufacturers have made strides in the industry, and today, there are various robots for almost every application.
For instance, some robots are specially designed to offer disinfection services in a healthcare institution. They utilize exclusive ultraviolet sterilization techniques to eliminate dangerous microorganisms. This technology helps reduce and regulate hospital-attained infections. In addition, it’s effective and fast in comparison to traditional sterilization methods since it utilizes high energy, high intensity ultraviolet light to sterilize.
Mobile Logistics Robotics
One of the major procedures in a hospital is the transportation of various components such as meals, medication, trash, and linens. As a result, medical workers spend lots of time traveling back and forth numerous times. To cut down staff responsibilities and complete these tasks fast, healthcare institutions can make use of an autonomous mobile robot.
These mobile transportation robots are capable of navigating with minimal restriction within the hospital via sensors. Some robots can carry patients, which comes in handy during provision of healthcare for the elderly.
Finally
Robotics can be applied in other applications such as dentistry, elderly care, phlebotomy (puncturing veins to either draw blood or introduce medication or fluids), and treating intricate complications. As technology advances, the world is set to experience a wide range of robotic applications in the healthcare industry. More healthcare institutions will embrace robot arms to handle tasks which require speed and precision, take over repetitive tasks, cut down costs, provide services remotely, and reduce workload.
