These New Machines May Send Medical Nurses Home

In today’s post, we’re exploring some of the latest medical innovations—and the big questions they raise for nurses everywhere. As technology continues to advance, some of these new machines could change how nursing jobs look in the near future. Could they even replace certain roles? Stay with us until the end as we break it all down and share what this could really mean for nurses.

Have you ever stopped to think about how much precision, care, and attention to detail the medical world demands? In healthcare, even the smallest mistake can mean the difference between life and death. According to an article by the American Nurses Association (ANA) Enterprise, “21st-century nursing is the glue that holds a patient’s health care journey together.” While there are many different types of nurses, they all share a common purpose—providing essential care that supports patients every step of the way. Below is a list highlighting these roles.

• They carry out physical exams and health check-ups
• They do health counseling, promotion and education
• They administer medications
• They coordinate care procedures in collaboration with other health care personnel.

Therefore, in summary, the nurses assist and ensure the smooth running of the day to day medical activities in the hospital. Now, imagine the existence of a machine/technology that can carry out some of those basic functions that are expected of a nurse. It feels like it spells doom for the nurses, right! Well, not quite. However, we are not looking at the details of that transition today. Let’s take a look at a number of these technologies that are influencing the medical space today. Please, join us as we welcome the age of machines.

New Machine That May Send Medical Nurses Home

Chine Blood Sample Collector Robot

This is also known as Shanghai’s first intelligent blood collection robot. It started operations at Zhongshan Hospital. The robot can take the place of a nurse to handle blood sample collection, the hospital said. The robot will check each person’s blood vessel condition to make an intelligent decision on the position, direction and angle of the needle to ensure safety and accuracy as well as control pain. At the time of start up, about 20 medical staff at the hospital underwent blood collection by the robot and compared it with a manual operations. Tests on all data testified that sample collection process and sample quality are in line with clinical standards, and medical staff didn’t experience any extra pain. The first group of patients said they only felt very slight pain when the needle was inserted and no pain when it was removed. The whole process is completed with oral instruction from the robot. According to Guo Wei, director of Zhongshan Hospital’s laboratory medicine department, “the robot uses intelligent navigation control technology through machine vision and biological identification to identify blood vessels and plan the route for insertion. The robot, which works 24/7, can ensure an intelligent, information rich, and standardized blood collection safely, effectively and efficiently. Gu Jianying, the hospital’s vice president, said the robot is a trial of intelligent medical services. More AI-based services will be introduced to enhance intelligent and human-centered check-ups,” she said.

Needle-Free Laser Injection Robot

With the invention of the “Bubble Gun,” researchers in the Netherlands aim to make virtually painless, needle-free vaccinations a reality. This breakthrough technology delivers “virtually painless” injections without needles, helping reduce fear and lower barriers to vaccination. The “Bubble Gun” uses a laser to propel tiny droplets through the outer layer of the skin, explained David Fernández Rivas, a professor at the University of Twente and research affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who pioneered the concept. He noted that the process works faster than a mosquito bite and should not cause pain because it avoids contact with nerve endings in the skin. Researchers will continue to study the method, but early results show it penetrates the skin without causing damage—leaving no visible wound or entry point.

Surgical Robots

This medical robot is loved by surgeons and patients alike for its ease of use and faster recovery times, the da Vinci surgical robot is less invasive than conventional procedures, and lacks the awkwardness of laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery. It has been estimated as there being more than 5,500 da Vinci robots globally, manufactured by California-based tech giant, Intuitive. When it comes to prostate cancer surgery in the United States, says Benjamin Davies, surgeon and professor of urology at the University of Pittsburgh, “the die is cast; there is only robotic surgery”. After lung cancer, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. It affects the walnut-sized prostate gland, which sits up against the urethra, between the rectum and bladder, and secretes prostate fluid, a component of semen. The prostate’s proximity to the blood vessels, muscles and a fragile web of nerve bundles that control erectile and bladder function, demands extreme surgical precision in its removal, a procedure that is generally recommended if the disease has not yet spread. Whereas an open patient needs to be cut from naval to pubic bone in order to access the prostate, a robot-assisted procedure requires a few small abdominal incisions.

Cobi Autonomous Vaccination Robot

Known as Cobi, the device was developed by Canadian startup Cobionix, a University of Waterloo spinoff company. It’s claimed to be the first robot to ever successfully perform an intramuscular injection, and it did so without using a hypodermic needle.

Other Areas New Technologies are Gaining Grounds

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

It is fast replacing conventional time-consuming and labor-intensive processes in the health sector with remotely accessible, fast, and real-time or life solutions for diagnosis, treatment of diseases, and prevention of diseases.

Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)

IoMT has been instrumental towards the development of products that require little or no human interaction in order to provide healthcare services.

Telemedicine

The Coronavirus pandemic sped up the adoption of telemedicine by many governments and healthcare systems. In order to deal with the pandemic, various governments issued telemedicine guidelines with the aim of decongesting medical facilities. Telemedicine reduces the demand on health facilities and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as medical practitioners reach their patients through telecommunication.

Big Data & Analytics

This involves the digitization of medical data collection, data storage, diagnostic techniques, treatment plans, surgical workflows, patient monitoring, and consultations. Big data and analytics improve patient-based services. It is capable of detecting diseases earlier, and generating new insights into disease mechanisms. Moreover, these solutions monitor the quality of procedures at healthcare facilities, as well as offer better treatment methods.

Immersive Technology

Here, we discuss the use of immersive technologies; AR, VR, and MR. Their capabilities are gaining more importance in the healthcare sector every year. Applications of VR in healthcare vary from rehabilitation therapy and treatment of anxiety disorders to serving as aids in cognitive and physical rehabilitation exercises.

Conclusion

The health sector needs these types of technological inventions. They don’t wake up with mood swings, they don’t go on break or get hungry (provided there is electricity), they don’t underperform their jobs because their fiancé or spouse broke up or divorced them. They are flawless with human emotions, and these are just a few of the things that would make these new machines send medical nurses home.

So far, you have seen the roles these technologies play in the medical space, can’t be overlooked, the quantity, quality and efficiency that these technologies bring can never be compared to that of a single human being. Hence their purpose of existence is of unavoidable importance to the medical world if medical practice is to advance in any part of the world. Let us know what you think in the comment section below. If you think too, that these new machines may send medical nurses home in the future.

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