Can These Hospital Robots Like Moxi Alleviate Burnout Among Nurses?

Urian B., Tech Times 19 April 2022, 08:04 am

Since the pandemic, the rise of work demand for nurses has increased. While the medical workforce is struggling to prevent burnout, a former Google X researcher created a hospital robot to help nurses cope with the issue.

Moxi Helped Nurses at the Mary Washington Hospital

According to the story by Wired, Moxi, the hospital robot, has helped nurses at the Mary Washington Hospital in Fredricksburg, Virginia. The robot is two meters tall and helps the nurse ferry medication, lab samples, supplies, and other personal items through the halls and from one floor to another.

How the Hospital Robot was Developed

In 2017, Diligent Robotics was cofounded by Vivian Chu, who worked as a former Google X researcher. She worked with Andrea Thomaz, who helped develop Moxi while still "working as an associate professor" at Austin's University of Texas.

Moxi initially came to the commercial space just a few months after the pandemic started. As of press time, Diligent Robotics sent out 15 Moxi robots to different US hospitals where they are currently operational.

Demand for the Hospital Robot Increases

The demand for Moxi has increased and before the end of this year, another 60 is scheduled to deploy to other hospitals in the United States. Thomaz, the CEO of the company, said that back in 2018, hospitals decided to work with them either due to the hospital robot fitting into their innovation project or as a special project for the CFO.

Former ICU and Emergency Room Nurse Differentiates Different Types of Burnouts

A former ICU and emergency room nurse, Abigail Hamilton, stated that there are two types of burnout. The first type is the one where they are short on staff during the weekend, and the pandemic causes the other type of burnout.

Moxi is just one of the different delivery robots that have assisted health care workers over the recent years. As per RNNetwork, nurses already felt the lack of adequate balance in their work and personal lives before the pandemic ever began.

How Moxi Helped Nurses During the Pandemic

Nurses experienced extra pressure and emotional toll from seeing both colleagues and patients die and get infected on a massive scale. The fear of bringing the virus home to their family was another issue for these nurses.

Due to the shortage, some permanent staff and temporary nurses have received higher wages, according to an article by Fortune. With that, Moxi was able to help these nurses and the family of those infected by carrying certain objects like smartphones or teddy bears.

Moxi was able to bridge the gap created by restrictions that prevented family members from seeing their loved ones infected by COVID-19. The hospital robot was able to do things like bringing important items to emergency rooms for doctors, nurses, and patients alike.