Medication administration in the future

Medication Administration in the Future
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Thanks to the rapid development of technology in healthcare, a few decades from now, the role of a nurse in the administration of medication will be very different from what it is today. Nurses will mainly oversee robots. Artificial intelligence and robotics will take up many roles currently played by a nurse. Glauser (2017) observes that in future it would be possible for advanced robots to interview patients, conduct blood tests, decide bed availability and even walk patients around the wards. Various projects ongoing in research centers such as MIT make this future highly plausible (Pelley, 2018). Glauser notes that nursing, just like other sectors will be affected by automation. Already, robots are being used to carry out some nursing roles in Toronto, MIT, and Japan. A mobile-based medication app is already in use in South Morang, Victoria (Bolden, 2016). Orthostreams, 2015, correctly observes that the medicine’s future depends heavily on smartphones. While the nursing profession is too complex to be taken over by robots completely, they will take up many roles currently played by nurses Gionet (2017). With the continued advancement in technology tasks such as the administration of medication will largely be taken up by robots.
It is envisaged that robots and other machines using artificial intelligence will carry out roles such as diagnosis and the administration of medication. Nurses will only oversee them.

Hence they will be expected to identify, and correct errors as nurses do today ( Breeze, 2017). In addition, they will have to identify patients and respect their rights while doing their work. However, not everyone agrees that these intelligent machines will carry out their roles faithfully. Erikson and Salzmann-Erikson (2016) fear that it is possible for the robots, using artificial intelligence, to be more intelligent than humans and seek to control them as it happens in popular culture. At this point, a robot administering medication may even go against the instructions not to harm the patient deliberately. Such a robot cannot be trusted to observe the rights of medication administration (Bonsall, 2011).
From above it is clear that with the continued advancement in technology tasks such as the administration of medication will largely be taken up by robots. Since robots cannot be fully trusted, however, human nurses will still have a role to play. Nurses, hence, will need to be tech savvy to carry out their duties satisfactorily.
References
Bolden, S. (2016, February 5). New look MedMobile app speeds up medication rounds for San Carlo. http://www.icarehealth.com.au/blog/new-look-medmobile-app-speeds-up-medication-rounds-for-san-carlo/
Bonsall, L. (201, May 27). 8 rights of medication administration. Retrieved from https://www.nursingcenter.com/ncblog/may-2011/8-rights-of-medication-administration
Breeze, M. (2017, July 5). A nurse’s role & responsibilities with medication. Retrieved from https://careertrend.com/info-8541046-nurses-role-responsibilities-medication.html
Erikson, H., & Salzmann-Erikson, M. (2016). Future challenges of robotics and artificial intelligence in nursing: What can we learn from monsters in popular culture?. Permanente Journal, 20(3), 127-129.
Gionet, K. (2017, November 21). Nurses of the future must embrace high-tech. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/nurses-of-the-future-must-embrace-high-tech-86042
Glauser, W. (2017, June). Artificial intelligence, automation and the future of nursing. Retrieved from https://www.canadian-nurse.com/articles/issues/2017/may-june-2017/artificial-intelligence-automation-and-the-future-of-nursing
Orthostreams (2015). The future of medicine is in your smartphone. Retrieved from https://orthostreams.com/2015/01/the-future-of-medicine-is-in-your-smartphone/
Pelley, S. (2018, April 22). Making ideas into reality at MIT’s future factory. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mit-media-lab-making-ideas-into-reality-future-factory/