Health care Robotics

Health Care RoboticsNameInstitution Advancement in technology has led us to a situation where robots are now been seen as efficient and the best solution to better healthcare. Quite often as automation advances, there is the anxiety that the various duties and roles assigned to individuals will not be there anymore. However, that is not the case with the managerial role. Research predicts that it is not managing the technology that runs the robots but managing humans that will continue to challenge the managers (“What is a manager’s role in a human-robot world?”, 2017). In fact, the managers are likely to be tasked with greater roles, sophisticated tasks, and untold responsibility. One of the duties of managers, especially the senior ones, will be to improve their skills and expertise for the imminent transformation. This entails a lot of studying and research on management work in line with the current trends. Another role is to look into an organization’s ‘augmentation strategy’ and implement it in the best way possible. This includes the ability of managers to look into the future and imagine roles such as those of paraprofessionals. Another role, primarily for the senior managers, would be coordinating a network of people – most of these people being independent contractors. As such this calls for the managers to step up, be creative, and develop specialist skills that the machines are yet to master. Moreover, the managers are expected to be the designers of the organization. This simply means that they ought to be the architect of the transformation. They will be the people responsible for dictating the pace of change (“What is a manager’s role in a human-robot world?”, 2017). The impact of robot technology not only has an effect on the managers but also other ‘users’. These include doctors, nurses and other workers in health institutions. Some of the jobs that do not require bachelor’s degree in hospitals will start declining. This will be quite common with mid-level hospitals. The effect here is that unemployment will set in. Some of the doctors and nurses in such hospitals are already being pushed into lower paying fields such as the nursing homes.  Some of the positions that were previously easily accessible now require at least a bachelor’s degree. Most experts argue that robot technology poses a great threat to the availability of jobs. In a time where the country is setting its sight on full employment, this is not a good thing at all. Health care had become a field where one could earn themselves a middle – class lifestyle even without a bachelor’s degree. The positive thing here is that more people will be inspired to go back to school and further their studies. At least the level of well-educated and technically endowed health practitioners in our hospitals is bound to increase. This means that the level of health care is likely to be high. Robot technology, despite rendering some people unemployed, guarantees benefits that could barely be achieved manually. Firstly, it brings about quality and consistency in health care. It is worthwhile noting that a robot is not subject to neither human error nor fatigue. Robots will undoubtedly do many jobs faster than a normal human being. While working hand in hand with the doctors, robots help to store and transcribe information. These robots also ensure that the less skilled doctors perform their operations without great supervision from the other doctors (Tosun, 2010).Robot technology goes a long way in saving labor and time as well. Automation replaces manually intensive tasks that are efficiently done by a machine. By saving labor it doesn’t necessarily entail doing away with employees. Instead, it encourages them to work on their areas of specialty in higher functioning roles. This technology also helps in reduced wastage. Automation greatly reduces paperwork, the use of spreadsheets, and other workarounds that lead to a lot of wastage. In conclusion, robot technology enhances increased predictability of outcomes. Technology often offers a standardized care path and hence patients are likely to stay track on it towards predictable outcomes. In case a patient has deviated from the recommended care plan the specialists around will be notified and intervention takes place. In the case of manual care, such deviation may even go unnoticed. Robot technology also offers a higher throughput. This means a nurse supported robot technology can handle a large population of patients at a go (Tosun, 2010).ReferencesTosun, O. (2010). Mobile robotics (1st ed.). Singapore: World Scientific Pub. Co.What is a manager’s role in a human-robot world?. (2017). Ft.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017, from https://www.ft.com/content/f619036a-0612-11e6-9b51-0fb5e65703ce