While providing the best care for their communities is a priority for health care systems, there are many tasks which can take doctors and nurses away from patients.
Robots have been used at hospitals for scheduled delivery tasks for years.
However, the technology proved to be even more useful when a nurse at El Camino Health asked if robots could be used to guide patients from place to place in the facility.
There are a number of tasks, both scheduled and on demand, for which robots and AI can be helpful – some tasks the hospital says are quite unexpected.
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"Patients are very nervous when they arrive at the hospital, especially for a procedure...and so as a patient arrives, having a robot engage with them and be part of their day is almost a fun distraction for them," El Camino Hospital Chief Information Officer Deb Muro said. "They often are chuckling and saying, 'Wow, never would have thought that would be available.'"
The hospital is finding that robots and AI can help them predict needs based upon patient data, create notes and records using ambient listening programs.
