Even before the pandemic, Nurses have suffered the effects of workplace stress and burnout. The Nursing shortage is a key factor when it comes to burnout. The lack of staff demands Nurses to care for more patients, which results in Nurses being overtired, overwhelmed, and overall highly stressed. 

Hospitals are turning to robot technology to help ease the strain on healthcare workers. 

According to research from the Journal of Nursing Management, Nurses spend up to 33% of their shifts on simple yet time consuming tasks such as getting supplies or picking up medications.

Robots like Moxi can assist Nurses with these tasks so they are able to focus on patient care. Moxi, created by Diligent Robotics, is a point-to-point delivery robot, meaning it can make deliveries and perform other non-clinical tasks.

Some technical features include: 

• Social intelligence: opens elevators and doors on its own, won’t bump into people or objects in hallways, happily poses for selfies 

• Mobile manipulation: Moxi can grab, pull, open and guide objects, with no human assistance 

• Human-guided learning: The more your staff uses Moxi, the more Moxi learns and adapts to your environment and way of doing things

Abigail Hamilton, a former ICU and Emergency Room Nurse that manages Nursing staff support programs at Mary Washington Hospital said, "The simple things Moxi does can make a difference. It can save Nurses the 30 minutes it might take to go from the fifth floor to the basement to pick up medication that can’t go through the tube system from the pharmacy. And picking up after-hour meals for patients is one of Moxi’s most popular tasks."

According to Wired, Two Moxi robots began operating in the halls of Mary Washington Hospital in February, they’ve given workers back approximately 600 hours of time.

With a landmark $1.5 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation, ChristianaCare will deploy a total of five Moxi robots at Christiana Hospital. The hospital will be home to the largest number of Moxi robots in health care.

“Moxi is not a replacement for a Nurse or Nursing position — or any position. It is an additional resource for Nurses and their teams. Moxi will be doing those hunting and gathering tasks such as getting equipment and supplies, which Nurses are doing today but don’t need to be doing at all," said Ric Cuming, Ed.D., MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Chief Nurse Executive and President, ChristianaCare HomeHealth.

Melanie Barone, RN, Associate Nursing Director at Cedars-Sinai who has acquired two Moxi robots said, "I think it's important to have Moxi be present because they not only provide an opportunity to improve workflows and be more efficient, but they're a fun thing to see around the halls. They feel very future forward."

In just its first six weeks at Cedars Sinai, Moxi saved 300 miles of walking for Nurses.

Ultimately, the Diligent Robotics team wants to build human-friendly robots for other industries as well, but for now healthcare is their main focus.