Digital technology
Digital technology
Feature
The experiential session equipped students with ‘ hands-on ’ opportunities to work with social ‘ humanoid ’ robots , telepresence robots , including virtual simulation tools for environmental assessments .
Beyond hand-on exploration and experience , students delved into a vibrant discussion of the potential of these rapidly advancing technologies , as well as consideration of implementation , ethics , sustainability , and data protection concerns and challenges .
The session emphasised core ethical , legal and communication competencies needed to integrate tools such as telepresence robots into existing practice and complex healthcare systems and infrastructures .
In preparing the workshop ’ s design , an important first step undertaken to inform the identification of teaching content was recognition by the team of the need to ensure an up-to-date understanding of the evidence base influencing practice .
One key challenge to the delivery of education in this area is the potential risk to share out-of-date knowledge , due to the fast pace of technological advancement .
As such , the team completed a scoping review before workshop delivery to ensure current ‘ best evidence ’ shaped the delivery of teaching . The aim of which was to systematically map the literature on robotics in occupational therapy research , education and practice .
The review is currently being further refined with the intent to publish , however emerging results reveal there has been a steep rise in publications over the last decade focused on the use of robotics in stroke rehabilitation , older people and paediatric populations .
Primarily these studies encompass the use of robots in upper limb training , gait assistance , activities of daily living support , mobility aids and socially assistive robots providing entertainment , therapy engagement , cognitive stimulation , companionship and telepresence uses , such as remote clinician visits or assessment .
While there is clearly more to be done to understand the use of robots in occupational therapy practice , our ‘ next step ’ is to further build from our initial immersive workshop .
Occupational therapy students will use different forms of robots , including tele-sensing and 3D mapping robotic technology , to complete a case study environmental home assessment . This project will introduce robotics technology further into our curriculum at Edinburgh Napier University , to consider how it can be adopted to enhance risk assessment competencies with occupational therapy preregistration students , focused on dementia practice .
Beyond imparting technical skills , this timely educational approach to enhance adoption of these technologies in practice will also further emphasise the important contribution the profession of occupational therapy can make to wider demographic change ; such as support for our ageing population , where current demands on healthcare services can often outstrip capacity .
As robots diffuse into health and social care settings , proactively training these soon-to-be frontline practitioners enables confident and effective adoption of rapidly advancing technologies . Thus far , the enthusiastic and eager engagement of our occupational therapy students at Edinburgh Napier University highlights their drive to lead the responsible and effective integration of robotic technologies with practice .
Words DR CIARA RYAN , Lecturer , OT , School of Health and Social Care , Edinburgh Napier University ; DR FIONA MACLEAN , Associate Professor of OT and Head of Subject Allied Health and Social Care Sciences , Edinburgh Napier University ; PROFESSOR ALISON PORTER-ARMSTRONG , Professor of Healthcare Technology Innovation and Assessment and Lead for HTRG , Edinburgh Napier University ; DR MAURO DRAGONE , Associate Professor in the School of Engineering and Physical Science , Heriot- Watt University ; DR SCOTT MACLEOD , Knowledge Transfer Partnership ( KTP ) Associate , School of Engineering and Physical Sciences , Heriot-Watt University and ASHLEIGH GRAY , Practice Education Lead for Occupational Therapy , Edinburgh Napier University . With thanks to the EMERGENCE network www . emergencerobotics . net /
Left : Dr Fiona Maclean alongside social robot , Pepper
Main circle image : Pepper , a humanoid social robot , and Ohmni , a telepresence robot , being demonstrated to students from Edinburgh Napier University during an immersive training session at the National Robotarium
May 2024 OTnews 35