Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Public Dissertation Defense
Doctoral Candidate: Sujatha Alla
Location: Engineering Systems Building Conference Room 2101A
Tuesday, October 8, 2024, 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Director: T. Steven Cotter
AN INTEGRATED THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR
IMPLEMENTING SERVICE ROBOTS’ INTEGRATION IN HEALTHCARE
Abstract
Healthcare workers, either clinical or non-clinical, are obligated to serve patients. However, lack of a sufficient number of professionals leads to burnout work situations, severe stress, and consequently decreased quality of the services. In this context, very few countries have been successful in employing service robots to perform dull, dirty, and/or dangerous tasks related to patient wellbeing/healthcare, while most of the countries are still skeptical about it. As robotics advances, there is an opportunity for healthcare to take advantage of this technology to reduce personnel workload and to reduce the possibility of their exposure to contagious pathogens. However, healthcare is a vulnerable environment and requires critical preparedness assessment before introducing new technology or a new process. A readiness assessment can help to improve the chances of successful implementation by identifying the stakeholders and the factors that should be targeted. This research is directed to propose a theoretical Integrated framework Socio-Technical Readiness (STAR) that encompasses Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), Human Readiness Levels (HRLs), and healthcare organizational readiness to support the transition of Human-Robot Interaction in healthcare.