Autonomous robots: a new reality in healthcare? A project by European Association of Urology-Young Academic Urologist group

Artificial intelligence and digital medicine for integrated home care services in Italy: Opportunities and limits

Home healthcare in the Italian health system has proven to be an essential factor in adequately responding to the health needs of an increasingly aging population. The opportunities offered by digitization and new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, are a lever for making home care services more effective and efficient on the one hand, and on the other for improving remote patient monitoring. Telemedicine devices have enormous potential for telemonitoring and telerehabilitation of patients suffering from chronic disabling diseases; in particular, AI systems can now provide very useful managerial and decision-making support in numerous clinical areas. AI combined with digitalization, could also allow for the remote monitoring of patients' health conditions. In this paper authors describe some digital and healthcare tools or system of AI, such as the Connected Care model, the Home Care Premium (HCP) project, The Resilia App and some professional service robotics. In this context, to optimize potential and concrete healthcare improvements, some limits need to be overcome: gaps in health information systems and digital tools at all levels of the Italian National Health Service, the slow dissemination of the computerized medical record, issues of digital literacy, the high cost of devices, the poor protection of data privacy. The danger of over-reliance on such systems should also be examined. Therefore the legal systems of the various countries, including Italy, should indicate clear decision-making paths for the patient.

Nursing and human-computer interaction in healthcare robots for older people: An integrative review

Objectives

This study examined the published works related to healthcare robotics for older people using the attributes of health, nursing, and the human-computer interaction framework.

Design

An integrative literature review.

Methods

A search strategy captured 55 eligible articles from databases (CINAHL, Embase, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed) and hand-searching approaches. Bibliometric and content analyses grounded on the health and nursing attributes and human-computer interaction framework were performed using MAXQDA. Finally, results were verified using critical friend feedback by a second reviewer.

Results

Most articles were from multiple authorship, published in non-nursing journals, and originating from developed economies. They primarily focused on applying healthcare robots in practice settings, physical health, and communication tasks. Using the human-computer interaction framework, it was found that older adults frequently served as the primary users while nurses, healthcare providers, and researchers functioned as secondary users and operators. Research articles focused on the usability, functionality, and acceptability of robotic systems. At the same time, theoretical papers explored the frameworks and the value of empathy and emotion in robots, human-computer interaction and nursing models and theories supporting healthcare practice, and gerontechnology. Current robotic systems are less anthropomorphic, operated through real-time direct and supervisory inputs, and mainly equipped with visual and auditory sensors and actuators with limited capability in performing health assessments.

Conclusion

Results communicate the need for technological competency among nurses, advancements in increasing healthcare robot humanness, and the importance of conscientious efforts from an interdisciplinary research team in improving robotic system usability and utility for the care of older adults.