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Vanitta Nonny Rangsitanan

Mr. Abel Cadias

English 10 / 1003

June 4, 2018

Can Robotics Increase the Rate of Unemployment in Hospitals in the Future?

At present, robotics can generally perform various tasks more accurately,

efficiently and faster than humans in manufacturing factories and daily life. For instance,

the world’s first truly automatic collaborative dual-arm robot in Zurich, Switzerland name

“YuMi” has been invented in 2015. Meanwhile, there are many extremely intelligent

robots that do difficult tasks and think critically. For example, in 2015, Sophia, which is

the most famous social humanoid robot, has been activated; it has a lot of amazing

abilities such as accurate conversations skill, following faces, sustaining eyes contact and

recognizing individuals. And inescapably, numerous robotics in daily life such as robot

vacuum and self-driving cars are gradually developing continuously. Beyond that, there

is a rapid technological advancement that develops robotics to be the better ones since

global competition is increasing all the time. Moreover, the minimum wage is often

increasing globally as long as the cost of living is going up. So logically, the preference

of employers is to use robotics instead of human labor to reduce the cost of manufacturing.

With these reasons, robotics come to replace some humans’ careers and several tasks in

daily life. Thus, the author believes that robotics can even work in hospitals which need

to automatically communicate with patients, diagnose patient’s diseases and also treat

patients. The purpose of this research report is to find out about the possibility of

increasing the unemployment rate in hospitals in the future due to robotics in order to

raise awareness for students who want to study in medicine. The author uses twelve

academic articles from different sources. The factors that increase the unemployment rate
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in hospitals in the future are due to robotics because of its better efficiency than physicians

and its worthy cost than physicians’ salaries.

Medical Robotics

Medical robotics is the newest and useful technology recently. Robotics is the

study in the field of science and technology. Robot and robotics are the terms that are

quite confusing but there is a difference between them. Not all of automation is a robot,

such as self-driving cars, but robotics is definitely involved in the process. Therefore,

robotics is rather an algorithm to function; robot is a term that has a narrower definition

than robotics (Defining Robots and Robotics, n.d.). To explain, robots are simply a

machine that can be programmed to do different tasks. Their systems contain sensors,

control systems, manipulators, power supplies and software; these components work

together in the same time (Introduction to Robots, n.d.). According to Ferrigino et al.

(2011), medical robotics are planned for many purposes in medical uses. New techniques

of medical treatment and rehabilitation have invented due to the fact that information and

communication technology (ICT) powerfully comes to take part in a medical field since

ICT and mechatronics became a part of medical robotics and treatment which is aided by

a computer in the last three decades. Since minimally invasive surgery uses a surgical

navigation, medical robotics is expanded for service in hospitals. It has diverse essential

roles in healthcare field: treatments in radiotherapy and radiosurgery with high accuracy

are provided by localization systems; safe rehabilitation in the first stage of recovery from

the neurological disease is provided by augmented reality (AR) in both surgical training

and planning process. And familiarly, robotics helps with motor diseases by providing

prostheses, which is an artificial body parts, and helping devices. Currently, the more

efficient hardware like microrobots and intelligent algorithms are highly increasing that
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everyone can own. Hence, medical robotics trends seem to increase extremely in order

to develop healthcare process.

There are some examples of medical robotics used at this point in time. Bio-threat

situations, which are the situations that is harmed by biological agents, or infectious

disease such as the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and anthrax attacks in 2001 (Nuclear Threat

Initiative, 2016). As Kartoun et al. (n.d.) pointed out, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome

(SARS), Avian Flu and other diseases which can transfer to other people terrorize medical

labors. Using biohazard suits are not the proper way to protect workforce from bio-threat

since physicians always have interactions with severely infectious patients most of time.

Medical mobile robots reduce the risk of this problem by providing teleconferencing and

other medical activities to the patients. So, physicians will not confront the patient directly.

Medical mobile robots have many advantages more than labor. To indicate, infections

cannot pass through or defeat them. They can coat their own surfaces from contaminating.

Telepresence is one of their functions that provides a way to communicate virtually for

one or more participants. These robots are available all day unlike labors. Also, some

tasks that fall under labors’ duty such as getting lab specimens, transporting meals,

medications, hazardous materials and waste can be done by them, too. Most importantly,

these mobile robots have some interesting functions that provides convenience and safety

for humans: self-recharging battery; teleconferencing systems between infectious patients

and physicians; remote controlling using several controllers such as joystick and Personal

Digital Assistance (PDA); transmitting digital data by wireless technology using ultra-

wide band (UWB), which uses a low amount of power but resulting high-speed data

transmissions in short distance.

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Efficiency on Physicians and Medical Robotics

Efficiency on physicians and medical robotics depend on time consumption and

accuracy on consultations and therapy. Reference to Sturmberg and Cilliers (2009)

revealed that time is quantified and limited so speed became a sign of efficiency. With

less time consumption, physicians can have more consultations with patients whereas the

quality of consultations will be not much effective due to the ability to memorize.

Because memory is the thing that people have to take time to get information by

separating it from noise, it is not a thing that can easily and instantly get. Also, memory

is not only the thing that will exist in the future but also active at the present. In order to

make an effective consultation by making patients understand their problems, physicians

must take time to share memories and interactions between physicians and patients.

However, sufficient time varies from different types of consultations and treatment. For

patients with chronic or complex diseases, they need to spend longer time with

consultations and treatment than regular patients. For critical patients in emergency cases,

physicians need to speed up consultations and treatment. Meanwhile, medical labors are

declining rapidly while medical care demand is increasing. One simple way to solve this

problem is physicians and patients need to use time wisely and cooperatively. In fact,

medical error can indicate accuracy on medical practice. Carrie (2017) pointed out that

some of the factors that causes medical errors are miscommunication, medical labors and

lack of knowledge. Miscommunication in either verbal or written form is the most

common causes of medical errors. This includes the deficient information transferring

between departments in the hospital. Medical labors can cause medical errors because

they sometimes improperly follow standards of care, policies, procedures or process such

as making mistakes in document preparation and labeling specimens. Also, insufficient

knowledge of medical labors can cause medical errors since medical care cannot be
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provided at that time needed. For this reason, medical labors cannot correctly pass on

knowledge to new medical employees or temporary labors. Then, the medical errors will

continuously occur.

Chien et al. (2010) had drawn attention to the fact that doing surgical tasks quickly

and accurately is the essential component of medical robotics with surgical skills. A

relationship between statistical correlations between the index of difficulty (ID) and the

movement time (MT) was shown by their study. Speed was reduced to maintain accuracy

as the level of task difficulty increased. Additionally, as Binder (2013) had indicated that

computerized physician order entry (CPOE) can reduce the occurrence of medical errors

by as much as 85 percent. The system has been programmed to check for double or triple

times for medical information for a patient including lab results, clinical records, allergies

and other information about the patient. It checks this information to compare with each

medication order before sending to a pharmacy department to dispense. Also, it calculates

for potential medical mistakes from dosage amounts. Moreover, turning to Scarborough

(2014), one found that Robotic IV Automation System (RIVA) designed to do from easy

to difficult medical tasks like syringe filling, sanitizing for patients and even checking

that patients receive the right medication and the right dose. This system has no possibility

for contamination or tiredness that can lead to medical errors.

The Costs Spent on Physicians and Medical Robotics

Physicians and medical robotics have a big difference on costs and worthiness. In

a survey conducted by PayScale, average salaries of family physician, pharmacist and

surgeon are 167,120 US dollars, 110,108 US dollars and 271,886 US dollars respectively.

Furthermore, Sifferlin (2012) had drawn attention to the fact that compensations in every

branch of physicians are high. Because the range of physicians’ earnings starts from

156,000 US dollars a year for pediatricians to 315,000 US dollars a year for radiologists
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and orthopedic surgeons. Nevertheless, some branches of physicians are receiving lower

annual compensation, and others are receiving higher. Since 2010, the annual

compensation of radiologists and orthopedic surgeons declined by 10%; the annual

compensation of surgeons declined by 12%. Meanwhile, the annual compensation of

ophthalmologists and pediatricians are boosting up by 9% and 5% respectively. Even

though their salaries seem high, but most of the doctors said that they are compensated

fairly since they have high debts and expenses. Moreover, the gender of physicians

differentiate compensation. Male physicians can earn 40% more than female physicians.

However, female physicians can equally earn the same amount of compensation as male

physicians in the event that they have the same work hours as male physicians.

Medical robotics costs a lot higher than physicians’ salaries. Thairath (2017)

reported that Da Vinci Surgical System were globally used in medical treatment in the

name of robotic surgery since 2000; this robotic surgery costs about 1.35 to 2.7 million

US dollars. This robotic surgery was designed to operate different organs in order to treat

several diseases such as gynecological diseases, prostate cancer, intestinal cancer,

gallstone and brain tumor. Currently, a lot of surgeons is taking an interest in robotic

surgery system because there are many advantages of using this system: preventing side

effects or complications during and after the operation, resulting tiny surgical incisions,

providing computer-aid operation for surgeons to operate the patient conveniently from

a long distance, and also providing clear image of the operating area for the surgeons to

operate the patient accurately. However, some complex surgery, such as cardiothoracic

surgery and cerebrovascular surgery, cannot be operated by the system itself since it needs

expertise of surgeons and physicians. Furthermore, the minimum robotic surgery fee costs

about 7,800 to 9,400 US dollars. It indicates that robotic surgery costs a lot more than

normal surgery.
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Conclusion

This research report aimed to find out about the possibility of increasing the

unemployment rate in hospitals in the future due to robotics. This research report

concludes that medical robotics has many advantages more than medical labors. In

particular, medical robotics is more efficient than physicians since it can reduce medical

errors. However, the cost of medical robotics is much higher than the cost spent on

physicians’ annual compensation. Based on research, the possibility of increasing

unemployment rate in the future is possible. This research report recommends further

studies on the advancement of medical robotics in Japan.

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References

Binder, L. (2013). The Shocking Truth About Medication Errors. Retrieved May 11,
2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder/2013/09/03/the-shocking-
truth-about-medication-errors/#5984147210ab

Carrie, A. (2017). The 8 Most Common Root Causes of Medical Errors. Retrieved May
5, 2018, from https://alwaysculture.com/hcahps/8-most-common-causes-of-
medical-errors/

Chien, J. H., Tiwari, M. M., Suh, I. H., Mukherjee, M., Park, S.-H., Oleynikov, D., &
Siu, K.-C. (2010). Accuracy and speed trade-off in robot-assisted surgery.
Retrieved May 8, 2018, from
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/rcs.336

Defining Robot and Robotics. (n.d.). Leo Center for Sevice Robotics.
Retrieved April 24, 2018, from
http://www.leorobotics.nl/definition-robots-and-robotics

Doctor of Medicine (MD) Degree Average Salary. (n.d.). Payscale.

Retrieved May 15, 2018, from
https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Doctor_of_Medicine_(MD)/S
alary

Ferrigno, G., Baroni, G., Casolo, F., De Momi, E., Gini, G., Matteucci, M., &
Pedrocchi, A. (2011). Medical Robotics. Retrieved April 27, 2018, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21642033

Introduction to Robots. (n.d.). Galileo Educational Network.

Retrieved April 25, 2018, from http://www.galileo.org/robotics/intro.html

Kartoun, U., Feied, C., Gillam, M., Handler, J., Stern, H., & Smith, M. (n.d.). Use of
Medical Robotics in Biothreat Situation. Retrieved May 3, 2018, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1839714/

Scarborough, J. (2014). Bronx hospital opts for hi-tech robots for IV treatment to
combat human error. Retrieved May 13, 2018, from
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bronx/bronx-hospital-opts-hi-tech-
robots-iv-treatment-combat-human-error-article-1.1833423

Sifferlin, A. (2012). Surgeon Salary: How Much Doctors Make. Retrieved May 17,
2018, from http://time.com/4408807/surgeon-salary-how-much-doctors-make/

Sturmberg, J. P., & Cilliers, P. (2009). Time and the consultation – an argument for a
‘certain slowness’. Retrieved May 7, 2018, from
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What is the Bio-threat? (June 17, 2016). Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Retrieved April 30, 2018, from
http://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/what-bio-threat/
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เทคโนโลยีการแพทย์ปี 2017 หุ่นยนต์ช่วยผ่าตัด..มาแรง (January 7, 2017). Thairath.

Retrieved May 20, 2018, from https://www.thairath.co.th/content/829390