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| Elmhurst Hospital |
Hospitals make a lot of money. And since they can't lower the cost of healthcare — that would violate some unwritten maximalist healthcare provider code — they tend to build ever more ornate structures, such as the lobby of Elmhurst Hospital, part of Endeavor Edward-Elmhurst Health. An indescribable medico-magnificent decor, all stone and woodwork, the unimaginable Prairie Style on steroids outer office of Ayn Rand.
I was there last week because my mother has been there — she turns 88 today, by the way, I'm going over there later for an impromptu birthday lunch — being treated for the effects of age. I'll admit, I welcomed the grandiosity — it was soothing, made me think she was in a good place. As did the attentiveness of the 5th floor nursing staff, who answered all my questions, assured me they'd keep us posted which, I assumed, meant they'd let me or my brother know when they released her. Even though they didn't, sending my mom back to Golden Haven in Addison without telling anyone, only to have her pass out as she left the medical transport van. She had to be taken straight back to the hospital. Nice work guys.
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| Moxi |
Moxi has a robot arm and, according to the robot's web site, "A friendly face that nurses and patients look forward to seeing," which seemed quite the oversell for two dozen blue dots arranged into a pair of circles. Though the circles not only blink but, judging from this video on the Moxi at Edward Hospital in Naperville, form half circles and even little hearts — to show affection, I suppose. Moxi wuvs you. There were 100 Moxis blinking and delivering bottles of ibuprofen in various hospitals by the end of 2023, including Northwestern Memorial, which is an investor, and six other Chicago area hospitals. You don't buy the robot, you lease, ah, her. It — whoops, she — was doing 20 tasks a day at Edward, though the company says some hospitals get 100 jobs a day out of Moxi, which supposedly isn't intended to replace hospital staff. Yet.
First of all, I hope that your mother feels better soon. If that’s not possible, then I hope her transition is as smooth as possible. As for a recent patient, I doubt this robot will be replacing jobs, especially for a blood draw. It requires a human to find a vein that isn’t blown or twists. I can see where these bots would be useful for the endless tedious tasks that a nurse faces every minute. This patient really appreciates when the pain meds arrive on time.
ReplyDeleteI guess you never saw the lobby of the old Wesley Hospital, before Northwestern demolished it. It looked like the Great Hall of some medieval castle, it was amazing. Lots of flags hanging from the walls, big wood beams at the top.
ReplyDeleteThey can fork out millions for new buildings, but not for the staff to make a phone call.
ReplyDeleteIt should not take more than three minutes to call a family member re discharge. More caring, more attention to detail, not more money is what is needed.
DeleteMoxie looks like Rosie, the Jetson mammy.
ReplyDeleteIn early March I spent 6 days at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. (I'm 79 and had Covid and pneumonia. No family.) No robots, but the best care from RNs and CANs I have ever had. Professional, prompt, attentive, caring ... I couldn't have asked for better. Good thoughts for your mother ... visit her often.
ReplyDeleteThey are using robots because they can, not because it improves health care. And I would be surprised if there are any money savings in the long haul. They are simply moving the jobs and costs further from the patient - all the way to Texas.
ReplyDeleteRobots, of course, are programmed by humans and humans make mistakes, as your story reminds us. How long before a human ends up with the wrong medicine?
The hospital violated a cardinal rule of health care - if you are going to lose track of a patient, make sure it isn't a reporter's parent.
I'm not sure the robot is all that different from the old pneumatic tube system. You still need a human at both ends making decisions.
DeleteYour mom is fortunate to have family members involved in her care.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was at Edwards in Naperville. Another fine place with excellent architectural appointments in their lobby. And she would occasionally get transferred to extended care from the hospital And they would contact my sister or myself and let us know what was going on without fail.
There were a lot of people in the healthcare system as patients whose family was either far away, didn't care or didn't exist. These patients don't seam to get the level of care
As people who have advocates.
At the same time my mom did get transferred once and they called my sister's landline at home. She had not updated the information for that facility so she didn't get a call on her cell phone but she came home to a call on her answering machine. So, no fault no harm
And as far as the robot nurses, a lot of what is done by skilled care personnel is very mundane. So I'm all for outsourcing it to a machine. It gives the skilled persons more time to interact with the patients in meaningful ways
June 23rd must be a great day to be born on: my wife turns 89 today, her oldest daughter 63, and a first cousin of mine, 64. Happy birthday to all! And especially Mrs. Steinberg.
ReplyDeleteAs to robots, could be they will give a nurse a break by removing the necessity of interrupting a nurse's patient care routine with a mindless journey to Pharmacy or could be that it will rob the nurse of an opportunity to get off her seat and away from the stress of constant patient supervision with the carefree exercise of a stroll to pick up medicine.
john
All the best to your mother, Mr. S. Been there. My mother lived in a senior apartment complex in the Twin Cities for the final nine years of her life. She made it to 92. There were nurses on call in the facility, and closer to the end, she also had a visiting nurse from an agency. For a while, she even paid a caregiver to assist her. Can't remember anymore if she was an actual nurse as well.
ReplyDeleteHer name was Yvonne, she was from Chicago, and she'd lost an adult son to drugs. A wonderful person. Not a robot. Did the things for my mom that the staff couldn't or wouldn't do. Hard to believe that was already more than fifteen years ago. Time doesn't march on when you're old...it runs. Goes by twice as fast. On the double.
Happy Birthday to your mother. It’s my mom’s birthday, too. It would have been her 107th, but she’s been gone for 40 years. Thank you for taking good care of your mom. I sure would have traded taking on some additional responsibilities for a few more years.
ReplyDeleteThe hospital lobbies are definitely stately pleasure domes, complete with self-playing pianos, but I’m kind of appalled at how little my physicians end up getting paid by Medicare.
Those hospital delivery robots aren't all that different from those roaming the floors of buildings elsewhere, and for similar mundane purposes. Moxi probably posed motionless for that photo because "she" detected someone close by, and was programmed to not move if something radiating body heat risked colliding with her or vice-versa.
ReplyDeleteIf you're ever roaming the aisles of a 24-hour big box store late at night, you'll encounter various free-roaming robots or other machines doing inventory scans, floor cleaning and such. One I encountered at Woodman's recently was wearing an employee name tag as it wandered into the aisle I was standing in. It stopped as I approached, eyeing me (possibly) as I went by it, staying frozen in place and hoping that I wouldn't notice it, until I was far enough away and it scooted off again.
What I thought was more notable here was how overqualified that hospital robot seems to be for the delivery tasks it performs. It's great that it has an arm for operating doors, pushing elevator buttons or whatever else it has to do, but there are other ways to get an important package from A to B within the same facility, a need that was probably figured out way back when we first started building hospitals. (I see I'm not the only one here thinking of vacuum tubes.)
This looks more like some kind of sales triumph by the manufacturer, persuading the hospital that this was the cheapest way to get things done, while looking somehow both modern and cute at the same time. Who could resist that.
The Cleveland Clinic takes up blocks and blocks. It's the octopus that is rapidly devouring much of the city's East Side. There are pedestrian bridges and tunnels, but the Clinic is connected to the supply depot, and its freight terminal, via its very own private subway. I've seen it.
DeleteNo tracks, no third rail, no overhead trolley wires. Workers drive electric tractors, similar to gas-powered riding mowers, which tow trailers of hospital supplies. But much of the subway traffic is comprised of programmable robots, who are sometimes attached to supply carts, and I think they also follow "tracks" of signal wires, set into the tunnel floor.
They know which tunnels to use and where to turn and what button to push for the elevator, and which one to use...and what hallway to travel along. Saw all this years ago, and only saw it once, which makes my description a bit hazy and fuzzy.
But that's how the ballgame is played. Not like in 1971, when I worked in a supply room and filled orders from shelves and then pushed a cart around a large hospital building in Boulder. The boss looked like Lee Marvin in "The Dirty Dozen." And he had been a Marine officer. He did not like aging hippies. He made up some excuse to boot me, so I wasn't there for long.
Best wishes to your Mom.
ReplyDelete