Nurse Alexa? Hospital Installs Amazon Echo in Rooms
While the nurse call buttons seem like a good idea, anyone who’s stayed in a hospital knows getting an actual nurse to respond can sometimes be a crap shoot.
But now, one hospital in Los Angeles has come up with a way to make sure all patients receive prompt responses, while freeing up time for its nursing staff.
As part of a pilot program, Cedars-Sinai has equipped 100 of its rooms with Amazon Echo devices, which will allow patients to control TVs, receive answers to questions and even summon human nurses if necessary. The trial is part of a proposed system called Avia, which the hospital says will be “the world’s first patient-centered voice assistant platform for hospitals.”
Since the Alexa devices were installed Monday, patients most commonly used them to play games, listen to music and check the weather forecast, Cedars-Sinai officials say.
