Empowerment through Academia and Nurses' Perceptions of Robotics in Healthcare: Two Recent Center Publications

Empowerment through Academia and Nurses' Perceptions of Robotics in Healthcare: Two Recent Center Publications

The Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation (EMCNEI) at UMass Amherst brings together faculty from the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, College of Engineering, affiliated faculty, student researchers, and industry partners to create innovative solutions using the nurse-engineer approach. This approach utilizes the hands-on experience of nurses coupled with the design expertise of engineers to solve problems while working in tandem on research and design. We invite you to learn more from two of our most recent articles: one introduces nurse-engineer collaborations at three different institutions and the other reviews cutting-edge research on nurses’ perception of robotics in healthcare.  Read on to discover more about the work the Center is doing:

Empowerment Through Academia (by Affiliated EMCNEI Faculty from UMass Boston Ellen Benjamin, PhD RN, and Center Co-Director Karen Giuliano, PhD RN) was published in February 2024 in the American Journal of Nursing ( link to article).  It examines three nurse-engineer programs of study; EMCNEI, Duquesne University’s dual biomedical engineering-nursing degree, and Florida Atlantic University’s BSN to Master of Science (either in artificial intelligence or biomedical engineering) degree. The Elaine Marieb Center ‘augments traditional nursing and engineering education’ state the authors, and supports ‘student-led projects that address clinical challenges identified by students and end users as well as those based on the Center’s research initiatives. . . Despite their varying approaches, these three programs share several similarities. First, each program integrates nursing and engineering education, allowing students to achieve their academic goals on a practical timeline. Second, the programs emphasize the strengths of a traditional undergraduate nursing curriculum, including clinical knowledge and patient care. This foundation in nursing prepares students to understand, identify, and solve clinical challenges. Finally, each program incorporates real-world experience and hands-on learning that prepares students for future careers.

Nursing Perceptions of Robotic Technology in Healthcare: A Pretest–Posttest-Survey Analysis Using an Educational Video (by UMass Amherst Graduate Researcher Gina Georgadarellis, MS; Affiliated UMass Amherst Faculty Tracey Cobb, RN; industry partner and Baystate Health Director of Nursing and Holistic Nursing Cidàlia Vital, PhD RN and Center Co-Director Frank Sup, PhD) was published in March 2024 in Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers Transactions (link to the article)It describes a Center study focused on nurses’ perception of the potential benefits and costs of the implementation of robotic technology in hospitals and other healthcare settings. Working with Baystate Medical Center professional nurses (Baystate is a Springfield, MA hospital that EMCNEI collaborates with) and Elaine Marieb College of Nursing faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students, the study found that a robotics in healthcare training video increased already positive views of the varied ways that robots could augment and assist nurses’ work.  The article also addressed concerns that nurses have, such as the perceived limited capacity of robots to perform emotion-based tasks like companionship and therapy. The authors illustrated the vital importance of including nurses’ expertise throughout the robotics research and development process.

 

3/14/24