Cresswell Kathrin, Cunningham-Burley Sarah, Sheikh Aziz
Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
J Med Internet Res. 2018 Jul 4;20(7):e10410. doi: 10.2196/10410.
The emergence of robotics is transforming industries around the world. Robot technologies are evolving exponentially, particularly as they converge with other functionalities such as artificial intelligence to learn from their environment, from each other, and from humans.
The goal of the research was to understand the emerging role of robotics in health care and identify existing and likely future challenges to maximize the benefits associated with robotics and related convergent technologies.
We conducted qualitative semistructured one-to-one interviews exploring the role of robotic applications in health care contexts. Using purposive sampling, we identified a diverse range of stakeholders involved in conceiving, procuring, developing, and using robotics in a range of national and international health care settings. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically, supported by NVivo 10 (QSR International) software. Theoretically, this work was informed by the sociotechnical perspective, where social and technical systems are understood as being interdependent.
We conducted 21 interviews and these accounts suggested that there are significant opportunities for improving the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care through robotics, but our analysis identified 4 major barriers that need to be effectively negotiated to realize these: (1) no clear pull from professionals and patients, (2) appearance of robots and associated expectations and concerns, (3) disruption of the way work is organized and distributed, and (4) new ethical and legal challenges requiring flexible liability and ethical frameworks.
Sociotechnical challenges associated with the effective integration of robotic applications in health care settings are likely to be significant, particularly for patient-facing functions. These need to be identified and addressed for effective innovation and adoption.
机器人技术的出现正在改变全球各行各业。机器人技术正呈指数级发展，尤其是当它们与人工智能等其他功能相结合，以便从自身环境、彼此以及人类身上学习时。
本研究的目的是了解机器人技术在医疗保健领域中新兴的作用，并识别现有的以及未来可能出现的挑战，以最大化与机器人技术及相关融合技术相关的益处。
我们进行了定性的半结构化一对一访谈，探讨机器人应用在医疗保健环境中的作用。通过目的抽样，我们确定了一系列参与构思、采购、开发和使用机器人技术的不同利益相关者，这些活动发生在一系列国内和国际医疗保健环境中。访谈进行了数字录音，逐字转录，并在NVivo 10（QSR国际）软件的支持下进行主题分析。从理论上讲，这项工作是受社会技术视角的启发，在该视角下，社会和技术系统被理解为相互依存的。
我们进行了21次访谈，这些叙述表明通过机器人技术改善医疗保健的安全性、质量和效率存在重大机遇，但我们的分析确定了实现这些机遇需要有效应对的4个主要障碍：（1）专业人员和患者没有明显的需求拉动；（2）机器人的外观以及相关的期望和担忧；（3）工作组织和分配方式的 disruption（此处原文可能有误，推测为“扰乱”之类的意思）；（4）新的伦理和法律挑战需要灵活的责任和伦理框架。
与在医疗保健环境中有效整合机器人应用相关的社会技术挑战可能很大，特别是对于面向患者的功能。为了实现有效的创新和采用，需要识别并解决这些挑战。
