I’m delighted to write a geust blog for BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care about how palliative care care be improved through use of digital health technology. I also reflect on how this presents an opportunity to learn from the COVID19 pandemic. Specifically, I reference an article by Clabburn and colleagues, which describes the novel use of ‘Ivy Street’, a Virtual Learning Environment to support palliative and end of life care education.
Medical robots have mainly been used to support surgical procedures and for a variety of assistive uses in dementia and elderly care.
There has been limited debate about the potential opportunities and risks of robotics in other areas of palliative, supportive and end-of-life care.
What this paper adds?
The potential opportunities of robotics in palliative, supportive and end-of-life care include a number of assistive, therapeutic, social and educational uses.
There is concern that robots will exacerbate healthcare inequalities, disrupt the workforce and reduce face-to-face human interaction.
Implications for practice, theory or policy
Future work should evaluate the health-related, economic, societal and ethical implications of using robotic technology in palliative, supportive and end-of-life care.
There is a need for collaborative research to establish use-cases and policy recommendations to guide the appropriate use of robots for people with serious illness.
