ChristianaCare rolls out 'cobots' to help nurses with nonclinical tasks

ChristianaCare this week announced some new help to augment its workforce: robotic assistants that can help nurses and other hospital staff spend more time with patients by automatic certain time-intensive tasks. WHY IT MATTERS The technology, called Moxi, is a collaborative robot that can work alongside nurses and interact with them directly, performing nonclinical tasks such as deliveries and pickups to enable them to focus on care delivery. ChristianaCare purchased five of these 300-pound "cobots" – which can work 22-hour shifts, be fully charged in two hours and carry up to 70 pounds – with a $1.5 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation. The Moxi cobots will soon be integrated with ChristianaCare's Cerner electronic health record platform, officials say. Connected to the EHR data, the cobots can anticipate the needs of both clinicians and patients – and perform tasks without human involvement.