Robots now help nurses with routine tasks at Lancaster General Hospital

Rosie and Roxy assist with pickups and deliveries

Rosie and Roxy assist with pickups and deliveries

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Rosie and Roxy assist with pickups and deliveries

Lancaster General Hospital added two robots to the nursing staff in August after weeks of training.

The robots named Rosie and Roxy by the staff and wearing bows, travel the hospital halls making deliveries and pick-ups.

Nurses make a request at a kiosk behind the nurses station and are given a place in line.

When a robot arrives, a nurse uses a badge for security to gain access to the robot to complete the task. A screen will show the task, such as delivering a lab specimen or heart monitor and the location. Those are the two items the robots are currently programmed to pick up and deliver.

The goal is to free up time for nursing staff members to spend more time with patients by their bedside and monitoring their hearts.

The robots do not enter patient rooms or care for patients. Eventually, the equipment and items delivered will expand.

Interim Chief Nursing Officer Tim Zellers says the robots are "all about supporting staff, not patient interaction. " He doesn't see them replacing nurses taking care of patients.

Lancaster General Hospital is the first in the Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health System to employ robots for these types of important but routine tasks.