52: Meeting of Minds: You Had Me At Robot

Issac Asimov believed robots could have a true humanizing influence, and one day do the work to make life easier, freeing us to do the work that makes life worthwhile. For many nurses, caring for patients is that worthwhile work. However, studies have shown that roughly 30 percent of a nursing shift is devoted to patient care, with the rest given over to other tasks like finding medications, tracking down equipment, tracking down supplies, and documentation. So the question is, how can we give time back to nurses, so they can put patients—and themselves—first? It's an urgent question, as the demands and pressures for health care efficiency continue to rise, while experienced nurses retire, nursing schools struggle to expand capacity, and the COVID pandemic stretches staffing to extreme limits. Enter Moxi, a robot—and patient selfie favorite—designed to help nurses complete routine, non-patient facing tasks. In this episode of Meeting of Minds, David Marshall, JD, DNP, RN, FAAN, senior vice president and chief nursing executive at Cedars Sinai and renowned social robotics expert, and Andrea Thomaz, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Diligent Robotics, sit down to discuss how nurses can lead interdisciplinary collaboration, the important role chief nursing officers can play in encouraging staff innovation, and the need for nurses to practice at the top of their license. At the center of their discussion is Moxi, a piece of technology designed to assist but never replace the priceless value and human interaction that nurses bring to patient care. Together, David, Andrea, and Moxi are proving that Nurse Robot Assistants can help reduce nurse fatigue and give nurses time back to care for patients, practice self-care, and focus on the big picture. Because no matter how advanced they become, robots don't take care of people. People take care of people.  Email us at [email protected]. For additional resources, visit our website at www.seeyounowpodcast.com.