@mythologyandhistory Nursing involves far more than performing physical tasks. Human empathy is such an important facet of care. An AI robot assigned to perform specific duties might fail to see/report subtle indicators of a patient's condition.
Cleaning is a complex task in a busy medical environment. Would a robot be better or cheaper than employing a human? I suspect not.
AI robots might be more suitable for deployment in environments that are hostile or inaccessible to humans?
I still don't think it would devalue nurses if robots could help them with such tasks. Perhaps in tandem? Nurse checks on patient -> identifies problem -> robot does the physical stuff -> nurse reports/fixes medical issue?
The cleaning one, I think is likely solvable. If you watch the video they are employing (or starting to) these robots in Amazon warehouses. Seems a small step.
The hostile environments are definitely a big one!
Nurses seem to constantly have to do things they shouldn't (e.g. lift or turn heavy patients, handle patients with violence issues, etc.). Why wouldn't it be beneficial if a machine handles those issues?
• Lifting and turning is an essential nursing skill. We have some mechanical aids of vaying degrees of usefulness to assist. Pressure Area Care SAVES LIVES. ie it’s something we SHOULD do.
Or … the future you foresee is a cohort of poorly maintained robots (remember — even basic IT is an issue in the Healthcare setting) implementing the same protocol for turning the bariatric patient across the corridor and the 60kg old lady wracked with pain we’re palliating over here — in front of her grieving family?
Remember that protocol? The one derived from an incomplete cheap-ass unethically sourced data-set from a developer that’s out of business — distributed by the dude bros that bought them out? The only package that the insurance company and hospital board can afford — or even worse — the only game in town?
Better hold on to your hats — same hospital board’s getting heavily sued. The sterilisation units supposed to clean the lifting & turning robots ran out of detergent — MRSA across the whole ward. Oops?
• De-escalation a potentially violent situation is something I’m involved in all the time — as a Ward Nurse and Team Leader. Let me tell you the right techniques can work — when delivered by an empathetic and experienced Professional.
I’ll even play my cis-gendered grey-haired white male card if it gets the job done ^_~
We even have Hospital Security. Also, on a ward level we strategise and plan amongst our selves — and develop relationships with these patients and visitors — Real Time Human Intelligence.
Sorry/not sorry that my tone is a tad pointed:
The general public’s misunderstanding of what goes on in Health Care still blows me away. Mass Media and Social Media certainly don’t help.
I’m also disturbed by some underlying assumptions I see in dialogues like this —
• That “smart people” know better than us how to do our jobs — deeply rooted misogyny perhaps?
• That shoe-horning inappropriate — and dehumanising — technology into a field that needs more — not less humanity is some kind of inevitable solution.
I’m not dismissing AI in Healthcare per se. Some well implemented data-sets have become amazing diagnostic aids in the field of Neurology (my jam) alone.
I’m all for appropriate technology helping — not replacing — us fellow humans.
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