It doesn't always have to be a human doctor making the rounds in a hospital for the patients to be happy. In fact, a robot can be just as good, according to a report in the December issue of
Archives of Surgery.
While bedside interaction has long been a symbol of physician compassion and patient happiness, the use of robotic teleconferencing to monitor patients after urologic surgery resulted in similar patient outcomes and satisfaction, according to the AOS report. In the study, 270 adults with hospital stays of 24 to 72 hours were randomly assigned to receive either traditional or robotic bedside rounds.
There was no difference in length of stay for either group, and the number of patients developing complications post-surgery was slightly less in the robot-monitored group.
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http://pubs.ama-assn.org/media/2007a/1217.dtl#2
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