Background Future nursing shortages and advanced technological developments mean that robots and automated devices could play a valuable role in nursing, but little has been published on their use, and outcomes, to date. Aim This integrative review identified how robots are currently used in nursing and the outcomes of those initiatives. Design This study used integrative review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses. Data sources We searched the CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for peer‐reviewed papers published in English from January 2010 to August 2018. Review methods The five‐stage review process by Whittemore and Knafl was used. Results The 25 included papers showed that robots and automated devices were mainly used in nursing to deliver medication, monitor patients, and provide nursing treatments. The outcomes were evaluated in relation to patient safety, working time and workload, usability, and the end users' satisfaction. In addition, the costs, care outcomes, nurses' behaviour, and changes in working procedures were considered. Conclusions Robots and automated devices have the potential to develop nurses' work, but more research and critical evaluations are needed to find the most suitable devices and focus on the functions that will provide the best outcomes for nurses' work.

This paper describes a next-generation nursing education simulator, the endotracheal suctioning training environment simulator (ESTE-SIM), which is capable of interactively reproducing vital reactions. With the spread of home treatment, care providers who have received a certain level of nursing education should be increased, not limited to conventional health-care professionals. A great gap exists between simulations under restricted conditions that have been practiced in conventional nursing education and those in the actual clinical site, thus creating a burden on nurses and patients. If a simulator that approaches real clinical situations can be developed, it will not only contribute to lessening the burden on nurses but also improve the quality of nursing care. The ESTE-SIM, which simulates endotracheal suctioning, can measure the movements of the suction catheter inserted in the trachea. The measurement information is used to estimate the progress of the nursing maneuver, which is then used to reproduce vital reactions, including dynamic facial expression changes based on projection mapping and monitor-displayed vital signs. To design and control the vital reactions, a mathematical model to determine the behavior of the simulator is formulated based on the actual measurement data of the vital reactions of patients and the experiential knowledge of nurses. By integrating these element technologies, we developed a novel interactive nursing education simulator capable of recreating typical vital reactions that occur during the basic endotracheal suctioning maneuver.

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Sixteen patients were given single intravenous injections of ampicillin (0.5 g) with sulbactam (0.5 g), and 15 patients were given amoxicillin (1 g) with clavulanic acid (0.2 g) before elective laparoscopy. At 2 h after dosing, the concentrations of the four compounds in serum and in the peritoneal fluid from the Pouch of Douglas and the ratio of each combination reached levels shown to be effective for antimicrobial activity in vitro.