Roberts 1

Aidan Roberts

Karen Jenkins

English IV

2/20/20

3Is Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Taking over Medical Practice?

Have you ever considered the importance of biomedical engineers? If not, the role of

biomedical engineers is to apply engineering ideas to the medical field in order to improve or

advance current medical technology. With the rapid advancements in technology in the past few

years, it’s crucial to keep updating our medical technology as well. Biomedical engineers do this

through the use of robotics, advanced machinery and artificial intelligence (AI). Why am I

discussing this? Ever since I was a child, I have had a passion for the medical field. It first began

with my interest in epidemiology, the study of disease transmission, and how to mandate

diseases in society. I remember researching various diseases and their effects on human health in

my own free time. The information inspired me and for a brief period of time, I thought

epidemiology would be my passion and eventually I’d pursue this field as a career in the future.

Because of this, I had a sense of clarity as I thought I’d decided what I wanted to do with myself.

However, this only sparked my interest to learn more about the human body and its functions. A

few years later, I enrolled in the Northgate High School Sports Medicine program in my

sophomore year in hopes to further learn more about injuries, health related issues, and the

human body in general. Nevertheless, I share a mutual interest in technology as well. I enjoy

reading articles about new innovative technology and machinery that have arisen in the modern

age. With these past experiences and subjects in mind, I soon realized biomedical engineering

was a career I wished to pursue in the future. My interest and desire to learn more leads me to the

question: “With the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence and robotics, how will surgeons

‘ roles be impacted in the near future?” This question over the future role of surgery is the perfect

foundation for a well backed up argument as it makes one consider the morals of robotics and

artificial intelligence in the surgical field, the recent achievements and advancements in

biomedical technologies, and all in all, the future expectations for this matter.
 Roberts 2

In order to understand how robotics, AI, and medical technologies will impact the role of

surgeons, we must first understand what is robotics and how are they currently impacting the

medical field. Robotics are simply defined by Erico Guizzo, a senior journalist for IEEE

Spectrum, as, “an autonomous machine capable of sensing its environment, carrying out

computations to make decisions, and performing actions in the real world” (Spectrum).

Furthermore, we must understand that the robotics industry is not particularly how one would

expect it to be. Robots today aren’t humanoid computers that can fully interact with the

environment and people around them (while they can be). Robots today are simply found as

complex machines tasked with various helpful duties. Robotics in general are currently being

created to help improve the quality of various procedures in several different industries other

than medicine. Additionally, robotics are being processed to make different tasks quicker, easier,

and safer. In terms of the medical field, Robotics are most notably being used to conduct various

surgeries typically, “​neurologic, orthopedic, and laparoscopic procedures” (Crawford​), explains

Mark Crawford, an experienced editor and journalist currently working for MC2 Solutions LLC.

In simple terms, neurologic procedures refer to surgeries pertaining to the nervous system or

anything in direct relation to nerve damage. Furthermore, orthopedic procedures often repair

deformities and abnormalities within the human body, typically bones, muscles, tissues, and

other various structures. And lastly, laparoscopic operations are procedures conducted to

examine organs within the abdominal region through tiny incisions and other carefully planned

out methods. Various industries are currently working on creating different types of medical

robots, these robots can be sorted into different categories based on their professions, most

commonly surgical, nursing, pharmaceutical, nanorobots, and assistive robots are currently being

designed. As the name says, surgical robots are being created to conduct various types of

surgeries as mentioned before. Furthermore, nursing robots consist of machinery designed to

provide patients with their essential medications and keep track of their conditions and report it

to nurses. Pharmaceutical robots supply and transport medications around the medical facility.

Nanorobots are the tiniest form of robots in this industry. Nanorobots, often associated with

smartpills, are inserted into the human body and operate on a cellular level, reporting

abnormalities within the body. Lastly, assistive robots are being used to aid patients in

rehabilitation and also take the form of prosthetics.

 Roberts 3

Artificial Intelligence is another branch of medical science that is being used in today's

world. In addition to robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) in the medical field must also be

explained and understood. Artificial Intelligence generally exists within computer technology but

has also been seen operating in various machinery. AI is meant to store and use vast amounts of

data to mimic human intelligence through quick decision making, planning procedures, and

learning various subjects and operations. An anonymous journalist from IBM defines AI as an,

“computer science that uses algorithms, heuristics, pattern matching, rules, deep learning and

cognitive computing to approximate conclusions without direct human input” (IBM) Medical AI

is so beneficial and important because it is known to easily produce the most reliable and

thoughtful answers to the most difficult of situations. Additionally, the US National Center for

Biotechnology Information explains that AI systems learn based on doctor’s input, “​Research

has focused on tasks where AI is able to effectively demonstrate its performance in relation to a

human doctor” (Buch​). This explains that AI is being used to quickly identify various diseases

and other health related issues based on the patient’s data. Additionally, this proves that AI can

be used to quickly assess a patient’s current condition and provide them with the best advice

towards the next step, in terms of necessary medical procedures and rehabilitation. The Ncbi

further explains that medical AI is solely to assess the situation at hand and provide various

essential intel; because of this, AI is meant to aid doctors in patient management and various

medical practices, instead of fully dealing with the situation themselves. Furthermore, another

article by the ncbi explains that AI is categorized into two subsections, virtual and physical. The

ncbi explains that virtual AI is meant to store, “ ​electronic health record systems to neural

network-based guidance in treatment decisions” (​Qureshi​). The role of virtual AI is previously

stated in my previous mentions. Furthermore, “Physical” AI is solely meant to program medical

robotics that are usually tasked with performing surgeries and other various medical procedures.
 Roberts 4

Now that we understand how artificial intelligence is generally playing a role in the

medical field, one must examine specific practices and systems that are utilizing artificial

intelligence today. A common example of physical AI being applied today is through orthopedic

surgery, orthopedic surgery involves treatment to various parts of the human musculoskeletal

system, which consists of muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and joints. As we know, orthopedic

surgeons are often tasked with very complex procedures but yet strive to be

“minimally-invasive” meaning utilizing as little surgical instruments as possible in hopes of

reducing a patient’s recovery time or minimizing any complications that result from the surgical

procedure. AI-assisted surgery helps surgeons in general be more minimally invasive than ever

by properly guiding them throughout the entire surgical procedure. AI systems are able to do this

because they, ​“can analyze data from pre-op medical records to physically guide the surgeon’s

instrument in real-time during a procedure” in addition to also being able to, “use data from

actual surgical experiences to inform new surgical techniques” (HBR) so not only are AI systems

capable of analyzing and utilizing a patient’s medical records, AI systems are capable of learning

from past experiences and applying that to real time. With this in mind, orthopedic surgeons are

capable of conducting more safe and accurate surgical procedures, being as minimally invasive

as possible due to AI systems’ exceptional capabilities. As mentioned before, AI-assisted surgery

is greatly improving the outcome of surgeries and its long term effects on surgeries, but how? An

article submitted to Robotics Business Review by, Phil Brit states that AI systems, “help reduce

surgical variation and its attendant inefficiencies and poor outcomes, as surgeons better

understand the techniques that align with better outcomes” (Kalis). Britt emphasizes how AI

systems are advancing to calculate the best method of carrying out a surgical procedure in

addition to providing alternative methods to provide the best post-surgery outcomes. With the

help of AI assisted surgery, patients’ hospital stay time is greatly reduced along with any surgical

or rehabilitation fees. This is important to note because AI-assisted surgery unintentionally

benefits everyone in the long run by saving millions of dollars that can easily be consumed in

surgical procedures and rehabilitation as patients experience less complications post surgery;

additionally, less materials are consumed and fewer surgical instruments and machinery is

utilized, reducing the cost even more. Another innovative usage of AI in the medical field is AI

powered virtual nursing assistants. Virtual nursing assistants are simply applications that store
 Roberts 5

various patients’ personal medical data, records, etc and provide them with 24/7 medical support.

In the early stages of virtual nursing assistants, the AI-powered systems only were capable of

providing information related to chronic health conditions; since the early stages of development,

virtual nursing assistants have expanded their knowledge to an extremely broad knowledge of

medical illnesses, conditions, and acute complications. Furthermore, virtual nursing assistants are

capable of interacting with patients in a wide variety of ways. Since these virtual nursing

assistants are aware of patient’s illnesses, using their medical knowledge these virtual nursing

assistants are capable of guiding patients on paths to recover or countering various illnesses and

complications through 24/7 monitoring, frequent check ups, and even developing personalized

routines depending on a patient’s illness. Furthermore, virtual nursing assistants are expected to

greatly reduce unnecessary visits to the hospital in the future; this is extremely helpful as it

would reduce the cost of attending various appointments, which lightens medical personel’s

work load or allows them to focus on more serious complications. While all of this sounds

beneficial, one must question the reliability of these virtual nursing assistants, these applications

are powered by AI-systems, various medical professionals program and upload the information

the assistants rely on, which also allows for medical personnel and healthcare providers to be in

constant check with patients. Growing companies today have already begun to develop software

today that meet these requirements and are constantly updating them.

In order to predict the future outcome of surgeons' roles, we must analyze how robotics

are currently impacting the medical field. While robotics and AI are rapidly advancing and

becoming more useful in the modern day, robotics and AI in the medical field were primarily

created to aid surgeons or those conducting complex medical operations. With this in mind,

many companies are developing more and more robotics and AI systems to aid doctors but, with

the rapid technological advancements will they still only remain for assistance? One of the most

notable medical robotics development companies is, daVinci Systems, a corporation that creates

machinery that utilizes sets of instruments to aid surgeons in operations. daVinci System is

operated by a care team at all times to ensure utmost safety of patients. Additionally, the daVinci

System allows for doctors to conduct more precise, safe, education in various procedures.

Furthermore, davinci explains that, “In the U.S., the da Vinci SP system is only cleared for use in

single-port urological procedures, lateral oropharyngectomy procedures (commonly referred to

 Roberts 6

as radical tonsillectomy) and tongue base resection” (Davinci). With this in mind, it’s likely the

da Vinci Systems will advance to conduct additional procedures. However, not all robotic and AI

systems nowadays are being used solely for surgeries, in addition to this, robots that serve for

patient rehabilitation are also being developed. Companies such as “Anybot” have created robots

that allow ill patients to interact with their doctors, or even participate in everyday life. Similarly,

robotics are being used to aid patients who are paralyzed. Companies such as ReWalks Robotics

have recently begun to aid this cause by developing “suits” that essentially allow one for a

significantly greater ability to move about.

As we know, people can be heavily devoted to their morals and ethical beliefs, this is one

dominant reason why robotics and AI may or may not replace the roles of many medical figures.

Additionally, we discussed the likeliness of this happening, and the issues that would be resolved

or created. To dive further into this topic, I spoke with Nicole Strand, a Bioethicist, a lawyer, and

a professor. On a day to day basis, Strand educates aspiring medical students about issues

revolving around healthcare, such as accessibility, race, gender, and many other factors. Strand

mentions how she deals with concerns regarding privacy, availability and proper usage of

medical equipment we have today. Furthermore, as technology advances, it obviously opens

many opportunities for us humans across all fields but that doesn’t necessarily mean advancing

technology resolves issues regarding privacy and moral concerns, in fact it probably adds to

those problems, Strand emphasizes. Additionally, Strand explains how there’s mixed feelings

regarding AI and robotics replacement, this belief creates a sadness amongst doctors, as they

begin to consider their role potentially could be easily replaced by our advancements in

technology. Doctors are beginning to worry that their many years of devotion to healthcare could

all be useless as their beginning to not be as needed as they once were. However, Strand reminds

us that humans are also flawed, AI and robotics are being developed to make very precise,

delicate movements and overall eliminate total flaws in critical medical surgeries and practices

completely; this idea is definitely one to pursue and consider when it comes to this topic. Strand

explains, the biggest moral question when it comes to AI is bias; as we mentioned before, AI

works based on what doctors and medical personnel upload into it. We humans make the

decision what goes into it, someone with unethical beliefs may input something controversial and

continuously negatively impact those who rely on AI systems. Furthermore, medical data that’s
 Roberts 7

uploaded may assist someone incorrectly that would properly assist someone else, so overall AI

and Robotics raise many more controversial perspectives unexpectedly. Lastly, Strand and I

concluded our discussion by examining the future impact; We agreed that as of now, robotics

and AI are playing a minor role in medical procedures, only assisting doctors in some

procedures. Furthermore, Strand believes that AI and robotics will become utilized more in the

future and eventually the roles will be switched, surgeons will be assisting AI and robotics.

A majority of my research has so far been examining how technology, robotics, and AI

is affecting surgeons and more urgent medical procedures. But, how has other medical personnel,

who are not working with robotics, AI, and urgent medical procedures reacting to these new

additions to the medical field. To answer this, I spoke with Scott Pygeorge, a certified athletic

trainer, teacher, and a career tech educator at Pittsburgh High School in Contra Costa County. On

a weekly basis, Pygeorge spends a total of 60 hours working, mostly educating his students on

sports medicine but also tending to athletes in need, and watching over sports events to take care

of any unexpected injuries. During his job, Pygeorge often uses simple athletic training

equipment, meant for rehab such as, electrical stim, tape, kt tape, therabands, weights, exercise

bikes, and much more rehabilitation equipment. As expected, Pygeorge doesn’t come into

contact with AI and Robotics; he believes those two categories will strictly only impact

surgeons, and medical personnel conducting more urgent and complex procedures. However,

with this in mind, Pygeorge and I agreed that if this were to happen, it would create a dilemma of

how people view AI and robotics in the medical field. A leading problem in today’s world is how

the media influences people, people often read and interpret misleading or incorrect information,

which could lead to more controversy to AI. In addition to this, as mentioned before, AI doesn’t

have a “gut feeling” AI and robotics simply work together to do whatever it is they’re

programmed too. With all this in mind though, Pygeorge believes the increasing usage of AI and

robotics would be a strong addition to the medical field and should be further pursued for a

number of reasons. Primarily because it could strongly eliminate the possibilities of flaws, in

diagnosis, treatment and surgery. However, Pygeorge explains he would like to see AI and

robotics assist doctors in everyday jobs, rather than replace them, which is what he expects for

the future.
 Roberts 8

In conclusion, it is clear that robotics and artificial intelligence are slowly becoming more

and more involved in medical procedures and operations. Even though they are simply meant to

“aid surgeons” and other medical personnel, it appears that they’re basically being used to

conduct the surgery or operation themselves. Additionally, robotics and AI used in rehabilitation,

are the ones doing check ups on patients and prescribing and or giving them medications. I

believe the term “to aid surgeons” and medical personnel is an excuse to utilizing the new

technological advancements in medical procedures. Additionally, I believe there is nothing

wrong with this, if medical robotics and AI are proving themselves to be an efficient alternative

and assistant to medical personnel, we should invest our time into improving them. Furthermore,

AI and robotics aren’t currently taking over the role of various medical personnel, however, they

are greatly improving them. Most notably, AI and robotics are being used to improve surgery.

Additionally, AI is currently impacting nursing the most, as its already showing the capability of

performing nursing tasks, such as diagnosing illnesses, answering inquiries, decision making,

providing vast medical knowledge, and much more; if AI and robotics are expected to advance in

the near future, I expect the roles of some medical personnel such as nursing, to be greatly

impacted more than others, meaning yes, AI and robotics will take over certain roles. An health

management article by Brigette Hyacinth, estimates that, “​jobs would be lost but new ones will

be created” and further explains, “​The goal isn’t to replace physicians or healthcare

professionals, but give them better decision-making tools… The only way to win in an artificial

world is to be human. It’s about incorporating new technologies but maintaining that human

factor. We must always remember nothing can replace the ‘human touch.’ ” (​Hyacinth). All in

all, AI and robotics are solely meant to improve healthcare, not replace it, however it appears

that the two fields are slowly beginning to replace the roles of medical personnel.
 Roberts 9

Works Cited

Buch, Varun H, et al. “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Current Trends and Future

Possibilities.” ​The British Journal of General Practice : the Journal of the Royal College

of General Practitioners​, Royal College of General Practitioners, Mar. 2018,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5819974/​.

Crawford, Mark. “Top 6 Robotic Applications in Medicine.” ​The American Society of

Mechanical Engineering,​ 14 Sept. 2016,

www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/top-6-robotic-applications-in-medicine​.

Guizzo, Eric. “What Is a Robot?” ​ROBOTS​, IEEE, 1 Aug. 2018, robots.ieee.org/learn/.

Hyacinth, Brigette, and MBA Caribbean Organisation. “Will Robots Take Your Job in

Healthcare?” ​HealthManagement,​ 5 Mar. 2018,

healthmanagement.org/c/healthmanagement/issuearticle/will-robots-take-your-job-in-hea

lthcare.

IBM. “Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: Machine Learning.” ​IBM,​

www.ibm.com/watson-health/learn/artificial-intelligence-medicine.

Justscience. “HOW CAN ROBOTS IMPROVE THE MEDICINE INDUSTRY?” ​JustScience,​

18 Nov. 2017,

www.justscience.in/articles/can-robots-improve-medicine-industry/2017/11/18​.

Kalis, Brian, et al. “10 Promising AI Applications in Health Care.” ​Harvard Business Review,​ 5

Dec. 2018, hbr.org/2018/05/10-promising-ai-applications-in-health-care.

Pygeorge, Scott. Sports Medicine Trainer and Instructor. Phone Interview. 24 March 2020.

Qureshi, Mohammed Owais, and Rumaiya Sajjad Syed. “The Impact of Robotics on

Employment and Motivation of Employees in the Service Sector, with Special Reference

to Health Care.” ​Safety and Health at Work​, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 5 Dec.

2014, ​www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266810/​.
 Roberts 10

Redazione. “Bioengineering Is a New Frontier of Medicine (but Robots Won't Replace Human

Doctors).” ​Morning Future​, The Adecco Group, 8 Dec. 2017,

www.morningfuture.com/en/article/2017/12/08/robot-surgey-bioengineering-medicine-da

vinci-lurch/172/​.

Spectrum, IEEE. “What Is a Robot?” ​ROBOTS​, 1 Aug. 2018, robots.ieee.org/learn/.

Strand, Nicole. Bioethics Educator, Lawyer, and Professor. Phone Interview, 23 March 2020.