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Robotic Uses in Pediatric Care: A Comprehensive Review
Tryphena T Lewis1, Hyunji Kim2, Ashley Darcy-Mahoney1
1School of Nursing, The George Washington University, DC, USA.
Insights
Robotic therapy shows promise for pediatric patients, improving attention and participation. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm the benefits of robots in neonatal and pediatric healthcare.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Rehabilitation Robotics
Background:
- Technological advancements have increased the acceptance of robotics in healthcare settings.
- Robotic assistance offers potential benefits for the pediatric population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the literature on pediatric robotic therapy and assistance.
- To examine the benefits of current and developing robotic systems for infants and children.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of English-language publications from 2008-2018.
- Searched PubMed and CINAHL for studies on pediatric robotic therapy.
- Included 21 studies after assessing 69 full-text articles from an initial 272.
Main Results:
- All reviewed studies indicated that children responded positively to robotic therapies.
- Robotic systems enhanced children's attention and participation in tasks.
- Results were statistically inconclusive due to small sample sizes.
Conclusions:
- Pediatric robots play a vital role in enhancing current pediatric and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) treatments.
- Further clinical trials with larger sample sizes are essential to validate findings.
- Robotics holds potential for future advancements in pediatric and neonatal healthcare.
Problem:
Advances in technology have made robotics acceptable in healthcare and medical environments. The aim of this literature review was to examine how the pediatric population can benefit from robotic therapy and assistance that are currently available or being developed in diverse settings.
Eligibility Criteria:
English language full-text publications focusing on pediatric robotic therapy studies for infants and children under the age of 17 indexed in PubMed and CINAHL and published from 2008 to 2018.
Sample:
A total of 272 articles were identified, 69 full-text articles were retrieved and assessed for eligibility, and 21 studies were finally used in the literature review.
Results:
From 21 studies, all studies reviewed showed that children benefited from robotic therapies were 1) responsive to the therapies and 2) favored robot's presence since the robotic systems increased their attention and ability to participate in tasks. Due to small sample size, results were statistically inconclusive.
Conclusions:
We identified positive findings, where utilizing pediatric robots played vital roles in assisting and enhancing current pediatric and NICU treatments. Overall, our findings suggested that more clinical trials would be essential, but the uses of robots may contribute to the future advancement in pediatric and neonatal healthcare.
Implications:
These review and analysis can be used to inform healthcare environments where there is a room for applying robotic assistance, although most studies required further testing with larger sample size to validate their results. This suggests the need for further research for robotics in pediatric and neonatal healthcare.
