Robotics is slowly starting to have a place in healthcare. More and more IT decision-makers in healthcare institutions are considering deploying robots or are already experimenting with them.
Consultancy firm Quint Wellington Redwood concluded after its own research that some 52 per cent of Dutch healthcare institutions are working on robotics in one way or another. For example, plans have been made to apply robotics, pilots are running and the deployment of robots for care or medical tasks is being seriously considered. The agency interviewed 40 healthcare IT decision-makers for the survey.
More at healthcare institutions
Robotics technology is not yet fully deployed anywhere, it turns out. The survey also revealed that robotics or home automation (such as smart building applications) are viewed differently in 'Care' and 'Cure' institutions. Within care institutions, robots are already much more experimented with or the technologies are already in the testing phase. When it comes to actual treatment institutions, we still see few pilots, though Quint Wellington Redwood has an explanation for this. Healthcare institutions have more repetitive operations with a less dynamic client base. In that case, robots are easier to implement in day-to-day care.
An example of the deployment of robotics in 'cure' institutions are the 'human' (humanoid) Zorabots, already deployed in several care homes. These robots, which have a friendly face, are mainly used in residential centres and in schools to help the elderly and, for example, autistic children to be active. The Zorabot can communicate, dance, play games, read aloud, supplement animation and do movement exercises.
Chemorobot
Although the survey says that hospitals and other treatment institutions are less involved in robotics, we also came across a report that the OLVG hospital in Amsterdam has recently started using a 'chemorobot'. This gives it a first in the Benelux. At the OLVG, patients' chemotherapy is no longer prepared by pharmacy assistants but by a cytostatic robot. This advanced robot makes the preparation of chemotherapy even more accurate and the work of pharmacy assistants safer. Besides OLVG, about 50 more hospitals will work with this innovation.
Preparing chemo is quite labour-intensive and requires a lot of precision and concentration. Until now, this was done daily by pharmacy assistants. The robot can largely take over the work, giving the assistants more time for more complex preparations. Hospital pharmacist Mirjam Crul says the following about it: 'The robot works 'gravimetrically'. This means that weighing of vials, bags and liquid takes place in an accurate balance. Also, all vials are individually identified by height sensors and photo recognition.'
Outsourcing
The survey also pays much attention to IT outsourcing, the outsourcing of IT activities to another party. The number of healthcare institutions planning to outsource (part of) their IT has risen from 61 to 71 per cent in one year. The main reason for this is the expectation that outsourcing actually increases the quality of IT, although this is still sometimes refuted by critics. 16 per cent of IT decision-makers mainly see the flexible costs through outsourcing as an advantage, while 15 per cent think that outsourcing allows them to focus better on core activities.
Confidence in the security of public cloud services has also grown. Nevertheless, there are still concerns, especially when it comes to data storage. For instance, privacy-sensitive data such as patient data should be stored in a cloud environment within the EU.
Quint Wellington Redwood's research also provides a number of recommendations:
- Make sure outsourcing fits into a broader, strategic framework.
- Make use of available knowledge and experience outside your own organisation.
- Consider cloud as a means and not an end.
- Investigate where a cloud solution adds value, for instance through a 'cloud readiness assessment'.
Incidentally, 14 per cent of all IT decision-makers (in all types of institutions) say they are not yet interested in deploying robotics.
By: Kelly Bakker
Source: Quint Wellington Redwood/OLVG
