✨✨General Discussions

The hope of this retired physician watching the problems in nursing homes is that robotics will develop to the point where patients (residents) can get help without calling a nursing assistant. Many patients in nursing homes are bed-bound. They need to have the light turned off and a glass of water at the bedside at night. Many of these simple tasks could be handled by robots. Plus, a robot could verbally interact with the resident, drawing on life review, interests, and past conversations, and be a real companion. Many companies are pouring billions of dollars into this research. This will be an excellent step forward. The only warning is that nurses do not want AI to surplant them in patient relationships, decision-making, and administration. So, the whole implementation needs to proceed slowly and with nursing buy-in. What do you think?

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- Chuck Webb MD, retired geriatrician, Richmond VA

At the same time doctors are opposing well qualified advanced practice nurses, they are advocating for inhuman robots to work with the most vulnerable population. Tasks are not a substitute for nursing care.

I hope you will support the mandate for having a registered nurse onsite 24/7.

Regarding the issue of advanced practice nurses referenced by Leslie Durr:

• Doctors do not oppose well-qualified advanced practice nurses. They are welcome. Nursing homes are all about nurses. Doctors have relatively little role in day-to-day operations or decisions. What you suggest would be great.
• The main issue with mandating nursing in nursing facilities is cost and the "one-size-fits-all" fallacy. Our CCRC has a 55-bed nursing home. Most of the time, our regular hours of RN suffice. We have an RN on call. It would be great to have more staff. We have funds approved to hire an RN 24/7, but we cannot find RNs willing to come and work here.
• It would be a shame to mandate more nurses and force nursing homes to close for failure to comply. The number of nursing homes is already in decline. With funding under attack at the federal level and the American appetite for increases in spending being at a low level, recommendations are fraught with complexities.

- Chuck Webb

https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/scope-practice/ama-successfully-fights-scope-practice-expansions-threaten

Robots could be helpful in reducing staff time spent on a plethora of simple functions. Our present system uses a call light which the resident pushes for a variety of mundane needs which staff must walk to the room to deliver. Staff walk back forth endlessly during the day, down long halls, back again throughout the day. Reducing this time could markedly reduce time spent on delivery, and could release staff time for medical/professional issues.

Obviously, robot interventions would not be appropriate for those who are unable to benefit from them.

Maura Conry

NaCCRA Board Member

Forum Monitor

Thanks for your comments on help from robots. Can you provide examples of some of the tasks that can be performed effectively by robots to save staff time?

Ms Westbrook, The following is from the MIT Technology Review. When you have a question like this, why not try Google?

“Care robots come in various shapes and sizes. Some are meant for physical care, including machines that can help lift older people if they’re unable to get up by themselves; assist with mobility and exercise; monitor their physical activity and detect falls; feed them; and help them take a bath or use the toilet. Others are aimed at engaging older people socially and emotionally in order to manage, reduce, and even prevent cognitive decline; they might also provide companionship and therapy for lonely older people, make those with dementia-related conditions easier for care staff to manage, and reduce the number of caregivers required for day-to-day care. These robots tend to be expensive to buy or lease, and so far most have been marketed toward residential care facilities.”