The term robot was coined in 1921 by Karel Capek, a Czech writer. He used the term to describe artificial people that were included in his play called R.U.R. While robots today are not as advanced as the robots Capek imagined, the common robots of today can be given a wide range of tasks, including in the healthcare industry. Currently both AI and robots can be used to make surgery more accurate and reduce healthcare costs. They can also help to make surgeries less invasive while improving the success rate. Patients typically recover faster with minimal work, for example, a patient who undergoes heart surgery recovers more quickly when surgeons don’t need to split the sternum. Patients also have fewer complications during and after surgery.
Artificial intelligence (AI) can provide a way of treating and diagnosing people in more rural areas where there is less access to healthcare. Currently, robots and AI are able to provide constant monitoring to alert doctors and medical professionals when their patients are experiencing health issues. There has also been an increase in medical professionals and robots working together, particularly in hospitals. Currently, robots help to speed up work for outpatient screening, disinfecting rooms, and the delivery of medications and food to patients who are in isolation in the hospital. Robots and AI offer a way of improving productivity and making healthcare delivery more efficient. As one of the professionals said in the article, “The highest level of healthcare ought to be a right and not a privilege,” and robots help to make that possible, even in rural areas.
If you would like to check out the full article, you can go to World Health Day: How Robots Are Changing Healthcare and get more details on how robots are changing your healthcare.