Demographic changes are putting the healthcare sector globally under pressure. Aging populations and a rise in chronic diseases have seen a need for more hospital care, which could not be met in nursing capacity. The resulting higher demands to the existing workforce have resulted in a rise of burnout and a low retention rate in the industry. Meanwhile, advancements in robotics have allowed for collaborative robots to work closely with humans, automating repetitive tasks in many industries. However, the healthcare sector is still reluctant to change and is not yet seeing larger-scale implementations of automated processes. This project investigated the problems with the design of medical collaborative robots today, while identifying repetitive and tedious tasks with potential for automation by applying user-centered research methods, and proposes actionable design principles for a successful implementation of robotics in hospitals. The result is a logistical system consisting of a fully autonomous, integrated mobile unit and distributed access points. The latter allows for an asynchronous interaction between the mobile unit and nurses, ensuring independence in completion of each stakeholder’s respective tasks. The system is designed to retain and empower nurses’ contact with their patients, by taking time-intensive tasks in medical logistics out of their hand. This saved time, in turn, can be translated to more time spent on care-related activities, improving patient’s outcome and overall quality of care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-212683 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Simonis, Laurenz |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Designhögskolan vid Umeå universitet |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess, info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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