While many older movies set in the future paint the 2020s as a futuristic megalopolis, the reality is that we have yet to transform into a society that sees flying cars and teleportation as normal parts of everyday life.
However, new innovations and developments in healthcare, such as ambulatory surgery centers and telehealth, are slowly starting to usher us into a new age in which highly advanced technology is becoming more and more accepted and utilized.
One particular form of futuristic technology which is piquing the interest of the public is electric automobile manufacturer Tesla’s new humanoid robots — known colloquially as Tesla Bots.
Though they have not yet been released to the public, many are speculating about the various ways that Tesla Bots can be utilized to improve our world.
One use for Tesla Bots that seems promising is the utilization of these humanoid robots for nursing roles — both in medical facilities and in homes.
While there are naysayers who believe that this idea is impractical and faulty for a number of reasons, a growing number of individuals are hopeful that this could be a revolutionary trend in healthcare that transforms the way people receive healthcare.
Understanding both the benefits and downsides of utilizing Tesla Bots as nurses can provide one with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the future of healthcare. Here are some of the most compelling ideas for and against using tesla humanoids as our future nurses.
The Benefits of Utilizing Tesla Bots as Nurses
While many are excited by the novelty of having humanoid robots filling human roles, it’s important to have a clear understanding of the benefits this would have in the field of nursing. Here are some of the most compelling benefits associated with the use of Tesla humanoids as nurses.
Less Human Error
While the vast majority of nurses are extremely skilled professionals with a valuable skill set and a breadth of specialized knowledge, the fact remains that even the most skilled professionals sometimes make mistakes.
Unfortunately, when it comes to healthcare, small mistakes can sometimes have a profoundly negative impact on someone’s health outcomes.
The use of Tesla Bots in the role of nurses would minimize — if not completely eradicate — the chance of small errors being made by nurses. This means that patients would have a higher chance of experiencing better health outcomes as a result of receiving better care.
Reduces Human Exposure to Infection and Disease
As the COVID-19 pandemic made wholly apparent, healthcare workers put themselves in the face of tremendous risk when coming into contact with contagious patients.
If Tesla Bots were used to take the place of nurses, there would be no risk of them being infected by anyone that they came into contact with.
While to some this may seem like a minor advantage, this can actually benefit medical organizations in a number of ways. These benefits range from spending less money on protective gear such as masks to no risk of healthcare workers becoming sick and needing to take time off.
This is especially important in high-stakes situations, such as the COVID-19
pandemic, in which medical facilities are extremely full and need everyone on staff to treat all of the patients who need medical attention.
pandemic, in which medical facilities are extremely full and need everyone on staff to treat all of the patients who need medical attention.
Cheaper Costs in the Long Run for Medical Facilities
For many, it seems as if the seemingly exorbitant initial costs of purchasing a Tesla Bot is enough to make the invention a flop.
However, when it comes to medical organizations, the price of buying and maintaining a Tesla Bot would be far cheaper than the cost of paying a healthcare worker’s salary for a number of years.
With Tesla Bots in the role of nurses, there would be no need for medical organizations to pay salaries or overtime. In addition, scheduling nurses would no longer be a difficult issue for healthcare administrators to have to deal with.
This being the case, the money that medical facilities could save by not paying the salary of healthcare workers could potentially help patients save money for medical treatment and care.
Practical Alternative for Home Care
In almost every case, finding long-term health workers to treat one at home can be incredibly expensive. This lack of home care is also one of the main reasons that older adults are forced to move into assisted living facilities rather than living their lives out in their own homes.
By taking advantage of Tesla Bots for at-home nursing, many individuals may have a cheaper and more practical option for living a more fulfilling life.
Tesla Bots have the ability to perform repetitive tasks such as laundry and dishes, meaning that their services would extend beyond just medical care for those who require bedside nursing.
As such, Tesla Bots seem like an overwhelmingly positive option when it comes to treating patients in need of home care and bedside nursing.
The Downside of Utilizing Tesla Bots as Nurses
Though Tesla Bots taking the roles of nurses offers a slew of benefits to both medical facilities and the public, the practice would not be without its share of negative aspects.
Here are some of the most significant downsides of using Tesla Bots as Nurses.
Lack of Human Connection
While many may view healthcare as the simple performance of tasks done in order to heal patients, the truth is that treatment requires much more. A critical part of providing spectacular care involves taking emotions and feelings into account.
Though Tesla Bots seem capable of accomplishing many of the physical tasks associated with nursing, the impressions that they give patients may result in adverse health outcomes.
When patients are in the hospital for long periods of time, conversing and interacting with nurses can provide some much-needed respite from feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Though Tesla Bots may be able to mimic human responses, it’s more than likely that interactions with these inventions wouldn’t provide the same positive feelings as interacting with a human.
Given the Tesla Bot’s lack of an ability to have meaningful human interactions, it’s likely that it wouldn’t be able to completely fill the role of nurses any time soon.
Lack of Intuition
While AI technology is capable of many spectacular things, technology has not become advanced enough to completely mimic the human brain and its cognitive functions.
In the context of healthcare, many professionals become more dialed into different ailments over time by developing an intuition. While Tesla Bots can likely be taught basic functions and facts, it is extremely unlikely that they will have the same thinking faculties as human nurses.
Given that Tesla Bots won’t be able to intuit in the same way as nurses, it makes sense that the treatment of patients may suffer as a result of having only Tesla Bot nurses. This indicates that while Tesla Bots may be useful for some nursing duties, it likely is not yet capable of doing them all well.
Introducing Hybrid Care Into Facilities
Though it seems clear that Tesla Bots have the ability to act in the capacity of nurses in some ways, it’s also clear that these inventions won’t be capable of properly performing some other equally important functions.
While this does indicate that we probably won’t be seeing nursing staffs comprised completely of Tesla Bots in the near future, we may see a mix
of both humans and robots.
of both humans and robots.
Nurses will likely have to be present for some interactions with patients in order to provide them with a sense of human connection and to provide insight into different ailments.
However, Tesla Bots can be a great option for performing routine repetitive tasks that nurses typically have to do. What this would likely result in is a more streamlined healthcare experience for both patients and nurses with both the benefits of human healthcare workers and robots.
Healthcare Is Transforming
With each passing day, more and more innovative technology is being incorporated into the processes of medical facilities.
While fully automated medical facilities don’t seem like they’ll become the norm anytime soon, it seems more than likely that more robots such as Tesla Bots will be utilized in many healthcare facilities in the near future.
Humanoid robots aren’t yet able to perform all of the same functions as their human counterparts, but this may one day change and we might even have the chance to see some fully robot nursing staffs within our lifetimes.