Cardiology professionals' views of social robots in augmenting heart failure patient care

Karen Bouchard; Peter P Liu; Kerstin Dautenhahn; Jess G Fiedorowicz; Jenifar Afrin; Michael Dans; Caroline McGuinty; Heather Tulloch

doi:10.1093/ehjdh/ztad067

Cardiology professionals' views of social robots in augmenting heart failure patient care

Eur Heart J Digit Health. 2023 Oct 28;5(1):69-76. doi: 10.1093/ehjdh/ztad067. eCollection 2024 Jan.

Authors

Karen Bouchard^{1

2}, Peter P Liu^{1

2}, Kerstin Dautenhahn³, Jess G Fiedorowicz^{2

4}, Jenifar Afrin², Michael Dans¹, Caroline McGuinty^{1

2}, Heather Tulloch^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin Street, Ottawa, K1Y 4W7 ON, Canada.
² Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave E., Ottawa, K1N 6N5 ON, Canada.
³ Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave W., Waterloo, N2L 3G1 ON, Canada.
⁴ Department of Mental Health, The Ottawa Hospital/Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, 501 Smyth Rd, Ottawa, K1H 8L6 ON, Canada.

Abstract

Aims: Social robots are arriving to the modern healthcare system. Whether patients with heart failure, a prevalent chronic disease with high health and human costs would derive benefit from a social robot intervention has not been investigated empirically. Diverse healthcare provider's perspectives are needed to develop an acceptable and feasible social robot intervention to be adopted for the clinical benefit of patients with heart failure. Using a qualitative research design, this study investigated healthcare providers' perspectives of social robot use in heart failure patient care.

Methods and results: Interdisciplinary healthcare providers from a tertiary care cardiac hospital completed a structured individual interview and a supplemental questionnaire. The framework method was used to analyse the qualitative data. Respondents (n = 22; saturation was reached with this sample; 77% female; 52% physicians) were open to using social robots to augment their practice, particularly with collecting pertinent data and providing patient and family education and self-management prompts, but with limited responsibility for direct patient care. Prior to implementation, providers required robust evidence of: value-added beyond current remote patient monitoring devices, patient and healthcare provider partnerships, streamlined integration into existing practice, and capability of supporting precision medicine goals. Respondents were concerned that social robots did not address and masked broader systemic issues of healthcare access and equity.

Conclusion: The adoption of social robots is a viable option to assist in the care of patients with heart failure, albeit in a restricted capacity. The results inform the development of a social robotic intervention for patients with heart failure, including improving social robot efficiencies and increasing their uptake, while protecting patients' and providers' best interest.

Keywords: Cardiology; Health technology; Heart failure; Social robots; Socially assistive robots; Virtual care.