Are robot assistants the answer to America's nursing shortage?

Record ID: 1706936

  • Title: Are robot assistants the answer to America's nursing shortage?
  • Date: 17th January 2023
  • Summary: ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES (SOUNDBITE) (English) HIRAL PATEL, DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “We've got two robots in the hospital and between the two, they are working 24-7 with only a short period of time to charge in between. So when you think about the numbers to staff humans to do that work, we would need at least six people to do that amount of work.” VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES (SOUNDBITE) (English) HIRAL PATEL, DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “In the last couple of years, we've, you know, like everyone, have been kind of encountering the issue of staffing shortages. And we were trying to think uniquely about how we address that situation.” VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIANE BUTTS, CLINICAL MANAGER OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “Supplies and medications and other things that we need from other areas of the hospital. She's able to move those around for us very easily.” VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT DELIVERING AN ITEM TO THE SHORT-STAY UNIT AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIANE BUTTS, CLINICAL MANAGER OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “Put in the request on the iPad, and then in a few moments she'll come and then she'll kind of announce herself with a little bit of a beep and we can just scan our badge. She opens up one of our compartments. We place the device in and then complete the transaction, and then she's on her way.” VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT DELIVERING AN ITEM TO THE SHORT-STAY UNIT AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) TOM ANGELOS, PATIENT CARE TECHNICIAN AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “A lot of times I was the one kind of running around the hospital, picking everything up, and you put on a lot of miles working in a hospital, doing all that, walking around, especially one like Elmhurst. That's very long. So definitely saving us steps, which was very helpful and keeping us at the bedside and not taking us away from our patients. So really, really helpful.” VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT FINISHING UP A DELIVERY AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) HIRAL PATEL, DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “I think the last we checked, we were doing 1800 deliveries in a month. And, the average delivery time being about 15 minutes.” PHARMACIST AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PLACING MEDICATION IN ONE OF MOXI THE ROBOT’S STORAGE COMPARTMENTS FOR DELIVERY (SOUNDBITE) (English) KLAUDIA TALASKA, REGISTERED NURSE AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “It leaves a lot more time for us to be able to focus on the patient and focus on what's going on and not be distracted by leaving the floor.” MOXI THE ROBOT USING THE BADGE IN HER ROBOTIC ARM TO OPEN DOORS THAT REQUIRE BADGE ID ACCESS IN ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIANE BUTTS, CLINICAL MANAGER OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY AT ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL, SAYING: “We're not relying on Moxi to interact with patients. That's still our privilege and honor. So we get to spend more time with them.” MOXI THE ROBOT USING THE BADGE IN HER ROBOTIC ARM TO OPEN DOORS THAT REQUIRE BADGE ID ACCESS IN ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 17, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDERA THOMAZ, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF DILIGENT ROBOTICS, SAYING: “We're really passionate about building robots that work as a team and really kind of fit seamlessly into a teamwork environment to take on some of the work that people in that environment don't really need to be doing.” ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS) MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 17, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDERA THOMAZ, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF DILIGENT ROBOTICS, SAYING: “If you've got a nursing shortage, you've got a workforce shortage, you know, one of the things that you can do is really think about making sure that the people that you do have are focused on what they need to be focused on. And so that's really what automation and our kind of solution is about.” ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS) MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 17, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDERA THOMAZ, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF DILIGENT ROBOTICS, SAYING: “You know, people are seeing a robot in their environment for the first time. And so you do see that kind of disbelief. But then it's interesting how quickly people are like - oh, yeah, okay, we're there now, I got it - and so I think it's really the way it's going to be.” ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 17, 2023) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANDERA THOMAZ, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF DILIGENT ROBOTICS, SAYING: “I mean, we're really excited about the growth and the traction. We're just really trying to get as many robots out there as fast as we can. And we have a kind of backlog of clients that are waiting for their robots to be delivered and, you know, trying to keep up with that demand.” ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 16, 2023) (REUTERS) MOXI THE ROBOT WHEELING AROUND ELMHURST MEMORIAL HOSPITAL MAKING DELIVERIES
  • Embargoed: 31st January 2023 18:06
  • Keywords: DILIGENT ELMHURST HOSPITAL ILLINOIS MOXI NURSING ROBOT ROBOTICS SHORTAGE
  • Location: ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES; AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • City: ELMHURST, ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES; AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Health/Medicine,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001317517012023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: As medical centers across the country continue struggling amid the nursing shortage, a hospital system just outside of Chicago, Illinois, is turning to futuristic technology to fill the need.
    If you step foot inside Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, you just might see a 5-foot-tall, Jetsons-like robot with ‘lite-brite’ blue eyes roaming the hallway.
    “We've got two robots in the hospital and between the two, they are working 24-7 with only a short period of time to charge in between,” said Hiral Patel, director of innovation for Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.“In the last couple of years, we, like everyone, have been kind of encountering the issue of staffing shortages and we are trying to think uniquely about how we address that situation.”
    The bots, both named Moxi, are made by Texas-based Diligent Robotics and are used to ease the burden put on hospital workers so they can spend more time attending to patients.
    Equipped with a digital screen on her chest and an ID badge to open doors implanted in her robotic arm, Moxi has been running errands around-the-clock for the medical team at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital since June 2022.
    “Supplies and medications and other things that we need from other areas of the hospital, she's able to move those around for us very easily,” said Diane Butts, clinical manager of surgical oncology at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.
    According to statistics from Elmhurst Memorial Hospital, the two robots made about 1,800 deliveries each month, travelled nearly 1,000 miles, and saved hospital staff well over 2 million steps trekking back and forth across the facility.
    During that same 6-month period, Moxi’s helping hand equated to over 3,100 hours of time returned back to the medical team.
    “A lot of times, I was the one kind of running around the hospital, picking everything up, and you put on a lot of miles working in a hospital, doing all that walking around,” said Tom Angelos, patient care technician at Elmhurst Memorial. “So, (Moxi) definitely saving us steps, which was very helpful and keeping us at the bedside and not taking us away from our patients.”
    No matter how advanced the robot's AI may be, workers say beyond the occasional disbelief while passing the bot in the hallway, Moxi isn’t being used to engage with patients at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.
    “We're not relying on Moxi to interact with patients,” said Butts. “That's still our privilege and honor, so we get to spend more time with them.”
    “If you've got a nursing shortage, you've got a workforce shortage, one of the things that you can do is really think about making sure that the people that you do have are focused on what they need to be focused on,” said Andrea Thomaz, CEO and co-founder of Diligent Robotics, the company behind Moxi. “So, that's really what automation and our kind of solution is about.”
    Thomaz says she and her team spent years doing research trials alongside four Texas-based hospitals before bringing Moxi to market.
    She strongly believes their product will be part of a healthcare future that regularly features robot assistants.
    “You know, people are seeing a robot in their environment for the first time, so, you do see that kind of disbelief,” said Thomaz. “But then, it's interesting how quickly people are like, ‘Oh, yeah, okay, we're there now. I got it.’ So, I think it's really the way it's going to be.’”
    Diligent Robotics wouldn’t disclose how much hospitals like Elmhurst Memorial are paying to have Moxi on hand but said their prices work on a tier-based subscription service, where healthcare clients pay for Moxi’s different features depending on their hospital’s particular needs.
    Although Thomaz and her team couldn’t specifically say how many Moxis they have enlisted at hospitals across the country, they did confirm there are “dozens,” with more to come as they try catching up to their request for more robots
    “We're just really trying to get as many robots out there as fast as we can,” said Thomaz. “We have a backlog of clients that are waiting for their robots to be delivered and, you know, trying to keep up with that demand.”
    (Produced: Eric Cox)
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