RNSystematic ReviewJournal of nursing scholarship : an official publication of Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing2026

Hospital-Based Robotic Applications in Nursing Practice: A Scoping Review.

Yebin Kim, Su In Jung, Seonyeong Woo and 1 others

PMID 42298824

WHAT IT FOUND

33 of 40 included studies described robots used in direct nursing care, mainly emotional support and monitoring.

The mapping did not show robots improve care or reduce nurse workload.

Key findings

0140 studies were included, and 33 described robots used in direct nursing care.

02Among direct-care studies, 17 mapped to psychological patterns; coping support (n = 6) and emotional support (n = 5) were the most frequent interventions.

03Indirect care was represented by one study, while associated work included four errand studies and five cleaning studies.

STILL TO COME

How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs

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What it does not show

Only hospital-based studies were included, so community care settings are not represented. Non-English studies were excluded, which may have missed relevant work. Gray literature and surgical or rehabilitation applications were excluded, so the map is incomplete for those areas. The review mapped robotic functions and did not test effectiveness or patient outcomes.

Declared interests

The authors declared no conflicts of interest and reported no funding.

The easy way to misread this

Do not read this as evidence that robots improve patient care or reduce nurse workload. It mapped existing hospital nursing applications and did not test effectiveness. It also found little support for indirect care tasks such as documentation and reporting.

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