Robotics and Healthcare

ROBOTICS AND HEALTHCARE

With increases in healthcare technology, come new developments in the ways in which physicians and surgeons interact with patients, and treat patients. One of the main developments in the past few decades along these lines has been robotics for surgery. “Robotic surgery is the use of a mechanical device to assist surgery in place of a human-being or in a human-like way. Despite being in its infancy, robotic surgery is set to revolutionize surgery. Today's technology is focused on developing ‘robot-assisted-surgery’ but, gradually, robots are becoming more sophisticated and diverse” (Yang, 2011). Robotic surgery has many pros: it allows the surgeon to be more precise, there is no risk of a hand shaking, and human error is diminished, and the surgeon does not have the discomfort of bending over the operating table. However, there are also cons, the main con being the excessive cost of these types of robotic systems and the need for extensive training. Some also do not see any difference in the quality of results.

Client perceptions may differ significantly as the result of survey research, in terms of what the patient expectations regarding quality of care and what caregivers are prepared to give considering their training or lack thereof. There are clients as well as caregivers who have their doubts about using new technology, even when it has been proven statistically to be more safe and effective than previous methods. It is relatively easy to separate caregiver and client expectations into these categories, but this does not give the reader an example of possible difference between the expectations of clients and the perceptions of caregivers regarding true quality care. For example, in many cases, especially among the geriatric population in palliative care situations, it is more important to the patient that bonds of trust and communication are formed between the client and the caregiver. Equally, many caregivers perceive...