Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Shinjuku-ku, Japan.
Faculty of Nursing, Kyoritsu Women's University, Chiyoda-ku, Japan.
Nurs Ethics. 2024 Sep;31(6):1010-1020. doi: 10.1177/09697330221149094. Epub 2023 Jun 12.
In recent years, research in robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) has made rapid progress. It is expected that robots and AI will play a part in the field of nursing and their role might broaden in the future. However, there are areas of nursing practice that cannot or should not be entrusted to robots and AI, because nursing is a highly humane practice, and therefore, there would, perhaps, be some practices that should not be replicated by robots or AI. Therefore, this paper focuses on several ethical concepts (advocacy, accountability, cooperation, and caring) that are considered important in nursing practice, and examines whether it is possible to implement these ethical concepts in robots and AI by analyzing the concepts and the current state of robotics and AI technology. Advocacy: Among the components of advocacy, safeguarding and apprising can be more easily implemented, while elements that require emotional communication with patients, such as valuing and mediating, are difficult to implement. Accountability: Robotic nurses with explainable AI have a certain level of accountability. However, the concept of explanation has problems of infinite regression and attribution of responsibility. Cooperation: If robot nurses are recognized as members of a community, they require the same cooperation as human nurses. Caring: More difficulties are expected in care-receiving than in caregiving. However, the concept of caring itself is ambiguous and should be explored further. Accordingly, our analysis suggests that, although some difficulties can be expected in each of these concepts, it cannot be said that it is impossible to implement them in robots and AI. However, even if it were possible to implement these functions in the future, further study is needed to determine whether such robots or AI should be used for nursing care. In such discussions, it will be necessary to involve not only ethicists and nurses but also an array of society members.
近年来，机器人技术和人工智能（AI）的研究取得了快速进展。预计机器人和 AI 将在护理领域发挥作用，并且它们的角色可能会在未来扩大。然而，护理实践中有一些领域不能或不应该委托给机器人和 AI，因为护理是一项高度人性化的实践，因此，可能有一些实践不应该被机器人或 AI 复制。因此，本文重点关注了一些在护理实践中被认为很重要的伦理概念（倡导、问责、合作和关怀），并通过分析这些概念和机器人技术和人工智能技术的现状，探讨了在机器人和 AI 中实现这些伦理概念的可能性。
在倡导的组成部分中，保障和告知可以更容易地实现，而与患者进行情感沟通的元素，如重视和调解，则难以实现。
具有可解释 AI 的机器人护士具有一定程度的问责制。然而，解释的概念存在无限回归和责任归属的问题。
如果机器人护士被视为社区的成员，它们需要与人类护士相同的合作。
接受关怀比提供关怀更困难。然而，关怀本身的概念是模糊的，需要进一步探索。
因此，我们的分析表明，尽管在这些概念中的每一个概念中都可能会遇到一些困难，但不能说不可能在机器人和 AI 中实现它们。然而，即使将来有可能实现这些功能，也需要进一步研究来确定是否应该将此类机器人或 AI 用于护理。在这样的讨论中，不仅需要伦理学家和护士参与，还需要社会各界人士的参与。
