Throughout this first year of college, I have been really happy with everything going on. I got into the Nursing Program, good grades, was able to do just about every extra-curricular activity that I wanted to do. Then we got to Spring break, and, through some crazy happenings at a FIRST competition, I realized that I needed to add a technological component to my nursing degree. After working with some great nursing professors, and looking at informatics, simulation, and other things we ran across this article on a “Robotics Nurse Specialist Role”. In a word, this seems “Perfect”, but it’s really new so there’s not a lot of information out there about it. So I was wondering, has anyone else heard anything about this? Do you know someone in this career? Do you have any bright ideas to where I could find more information, besides emailing the author (I’ve already tried to do that, it’s been difficult finding her email)?
If there happens to be anyone else out there trying to figure out how to combine hands-on medicine with technology/robotics here’s the article that I was given… http://www.aorn.org/journal/homestudy/march06a.pdf
Wow, that’s a Great idea! Contact these folks,they should be able to hook you up with some medical professionals in your area. Based on the lack of information out there, it is likely that you will have to define that role as one of the first in the profession… An envious position, indeed.
I haven’t heard of that program specifically; but, from a quick look it seems related to (but not quite the same as) some of the things that Biomedical Computing students/faculty are doing here.
Recently some students here put on a conference, the first Canadian Student Conference on Biomedical Computing. You might want to look at the conference schedule and descriptions of the keynote speakers from there.
Check out http://www.intouch-health.com/ith/index.html. this is a company that is prototyping (producing) telepresence robots for the health care industry. Their robot was working here in Portland in a study at OHSU and was giving demonstrations at the Oregon State First LEGO League competition.
The robot acts as a remote extenstion for the doctor or other health care provider. The robot uses a 3 ball (no wheels!) drive system so that it can move in all directions. The operator communicates with it via an internet connection. I recall that the robot itself has a wireless B interface.
The robot feeds back position information, the view from its camera, and relative positions of objects sensed by a plethora of IR sensors. This allows the operator to manuver safely in the small spaces around a hospital bed.
The patient can see the face of the operator on a large flat panel display.
This robot is intented to help specialists who need to see a large number of patients over a diverse geographic area. The specialist could make routine patient vists by checking out a robot at each physical location. Then, if the
situation warrents, the specialist can make in person vists to those that need it.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Eric J. Anderson (Team 1425 - Wilsonville Robotics)
This sounds like an excellent idea - if you’re up for paving the way for a new career path (pursuing this sounds very innovative), I’m sure your background in FIRST and your extraordinary ambition will be very sought-after on the job market. Do what you can - give it a try!
Do what you can - give it a try!