Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital

On September 26, a delegation with 25 people including Danish Minister for Senior Citizens and Danish Super Hospital members has had a medical robotics tour at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital.

Denmark is about to enter a super-aging society. Regarding this issue, Danish government gave a visit to Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital because the hospital was selected as the one of the most successful example of introducing medical robotics in Korea. This visit was to see how 72 cutting-edge robots at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital communicate with people and handle the work of medical staff so that Danish government can apply them to Danish senior citizen welfare policies.

During the tour, Me Yeon Lee, Director of Command Center, gave a lecture on ‘Current Operational Status of Medical Robots at Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital’ and conducted a tour at the hospital where medical robots are busy working.

Danish officials have made contact with four types of robots such as 'Seongsimi,’ 'Narmi,’ ‘Kkalkeumi,’ and ‘Maneungi.’ Seongsimi is a guidance robot which guides patients so that they do not get lost in the hospital. Narmi is a delivery robot which is linked to the elevator and moves from the pharmacy team on the basement floor to wards on different floors to deliver drugs. Kkalkeumi is a quarantine robot which moves around the ward. Maneungi is all-rounder robot which gives video guidance on surgery and hospitalization to patients in the smart ward on the 13th floor and provides non-face-to-face multidisciplinary consultation as well. Additionally, the group has confronted a home based medical care robot that provides video calls between medical staff and patients, who receive medical care in their own home.

Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital customized and designed software to suit the hospital environment so that robots are able to interact with people instead of simple service providing robots. An on-site application team for robotics and new digital technologies is stationed and runs a digital integrated control system to monitor the operational status in real time, such as robots’ routes and malfunctions that take place in the hospital.

Mette Kierkgaard, Minister of Denmark for Senior Citizens said, “I am impressed with the unique robotic approach of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital. It is surprising that the satisfaction rating of both medical staff and patients is already high.” She also added, “If this successful case from Hallym is demonstrated, it is expected that medical robots will be widely introduced in Denmark within a few years.”

Kyung Ho Yoo, Director at Hallym University Sacred Hospital commented, “It is significant to change the hospital environment so that robots and people can coexist when it comes to implementation of medical robots.” He added, “The robots were reprocessed to suit the medical environment. For instance, stickers were attached to the floor so that people can recognize the route where the robots travel. Moreover, the door sill was lowered to prevent robots from falling. He continued, “A model of robot utilization equipped with functions in diversified fields is being constructed so that robots can resolve medical labor shortage without difficulties.”

Me Yeon Lee, Director of Command Center, stated, “It is important not only to simply deploy robots in providing medical services, but also to operate them on emotional aspect so that people and robots can interact.” She added, “If medical robots are used in hospitals, medical staff will be able to take sufficient time to provide specialized medical services to patients and focus on qualitative tasks.” “It is effective to deploy robots in helping patients receive a variety of medical services,” she explained.

By Hyunmin Park, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (hmin@hallym.or.kr)