The COVID-19 pandemic is spurring the healthcare industry to turn to robots for help. Darrell Adams shares how cobots – collaborative robots – reduce the risk of healthcare workers by minimising in-person contact with patients who are isolated.
* Darrell Adams is the Head of Southeast Asia & Oceania at Universal Robots.
A UR5 cobot collaborating with a healthcare worker.
COVID-19, the global pandemic, took the world by surprise and suddenly the healthcare system has to confront one of the toughest challenges on a global scale.
Millions of Nurses Needed
The global healthcare system is cracking under the strain of this global pandemic.
Yet, a recent report shows that globally, we are in need of 6 million more nurses to achieve global health targets, even without a global pandemic.
This is an alarming number, and it is unlikely that over a short period of time, the demand can be met.
Healthcare workers are working round the clock and the intense workload at the frontline led to exhaustion in many, virus infection in others, and some sadly passed away in their line of duty.
Human Factors and Errors
In the study of human factors and fatigue, factors which contribute to human errors within the confines of human factors include sleep deprivation, shift schedules, repetitive tasks, physically demanding tasks, and of course, stress.
In the medical sector, besides the lack of nurses, the healthcare industry faces other challenges such as a high instance of human error due to a pressurising and non-automated environment, working on shifts, with a substantial amount of time dedicated to administrative tasks, which takes away precious time from patient care.
