Robot Nurses

07/29/22 • 39 min

Unexpected item in bagging area! Machines can provoke many emotions, including rage and anxiety. But can they also care?

In Episode 2 of "Living With Feeling", historian of nursing Sarah Chaney meets some care robots and discusses with experts what these machines are for, and what they can offer. Sarah probes the potential and the limitations of care robots - and looks at historical ideas from earlier eras about emotional qualities, including fortitude and compassion, which would be shown by the ideal human nurse. Sarah and her interviewees also discuss the idea of "emotional labour" and also the racial and gendered stereotypes associated with nursing that are embodied in the way robot nurses are designed.

Dr Sarah Chaney is a historian of nursing and emotions. Her most recent book is Am I Normal? The 200-Year Search for Normal People (and Why They Don’t Exist). She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. @KentishScribble

Robots in this episode came from the Can Robots Care exhibition at the Thackray Museum of Medicine (Paro and Miro)

Dr Amelia de Falco, is Associate Professor Of Medical Humanities at the University Of Leeds @AmeliaDefalco

Prof. Rena Papadopoulos is Professor of Transcultural Health & Nursing at Middlesex University, London @irena_pap

Prof. Anna Romina Guevarra is Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Global Asian Studies Program at the University of Illinois Chicago @AnnaRGuevarra

Amanda Gwinnup is a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersfield researching the post-war experiences of disabled WWI nurses @WW1NurseHist

Professor Pam Smith is Professorial Fellow and former Head of Nursing Studies in the School of Health in Social Science Edinburgh University.

"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and supported by the Wellcome Trust. It is brought to you by the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions. Find out more about our work at The Emotions Lab website.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Unexpected item in bagging area! Machines can provoke many emotions, including rage and anxiety. But can they also care?

Robots in this episode came from the Can Robots Care exhibition at the Thackray Museum of Medicine (Paro and Miro)

Dr Amelia de Falco, is Associate Professor Of Medical Humanities at the University Of Leeds @AmeliaDefalco

Prof. Rena Papadopoulos is Professor of Transcultural Health & Nursing at Middlesex University, London @irena_pap

Prof. Anna Romina Guevarra is Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Global Asian Studies Program at the University of Illinois Chicago @AnnaRGuevarra

Amanda Gwinnup is a PhD candidate at the University of Huddersfield researching the post-war experiences of disabled WWI nurses @WW1NurseHist

Professor Pam Smith is Professorial Fellow and former Head of Nursing Studies in the School of Health in Social Science Edinburgh University.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Rethinking Emotions

In this first episode of our new series about emotions in the 21st century, priest and writer Giles Fraser and psychotherapist Philippa Perry join Thomas Dixon for a lively conversation about the place of emotions in modern culture.

Philippa, Giles, and Thomas discuss whether people are too ready to interpret painful or difficult emotions as signs of mental illness, and whether it is always true that "Your emotions are valid". Can emotions ever be wrong?

Giles confesses to an emotional outburst in the middle of the night, and suggests we should all try to be a bit more like the Queen, while Philippa explains how important it is to be able to live with and contain our own feelings, and those of our children, without necessarily always expressing them.

We explore what Christianity and psychotherapy have to say about the idea that we are all emotionally broken or disordered in some way, and Giles and Philippa share their views about smartphones and emotions, and whether they would like to be cared for by a robot nurse, and if not why not.

Philippa Perry is a psychotherapist and artist. She is the author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read: (And Your Children Will Be Glad That You Did) - and the “Ask Philippa” advice column in the Observer. She says that responding to your children’s feelings appropriately is foundational to their future emotional health. @philippa_perry

Reverend Giles Fraser is the Vicar of St Anne’s in Kew, as well as being a journalist and author. His most recent book is Chosen: Lost and Found Between Christianity and Judaism, and in 2017 he made a series for Radio 4 - “This Old Heart of Mine” - about the experience of surviving a heart attack and bypass surgery. It gave him the chance to reflect on matters of the heart - physical, emotional, and spiritual. @giles_fraser

Professor Thomas Dixon is Director of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, the author of Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears (2015), and previously presented "The Sound of Anger" podcast series. @ProfThomasDixon

"Living With Feeling" is produced by Natalie Steed for Rhubarb Rhubarb, and is supported by the Wellcome Trust.

To find out more about the work of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions, please visit The Emotions Lab website at emotionslab.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Happiness Lessons

Should mindfulness and happiness take their place on the school curriculum alongside maths and literacy?

Thomas Dixon asks whether 200-year-old ideas about love, emotions, and primary education are still relevant today. He visits three schools with different approaches to emotions, and meets experts on mental health and wellbeing - asking whether there is a crisis in young people's mental health today, whether schools should be part of the solution, and if so what that solution might look like. Katharine Birbalsingh talks to Thomas about the "tough love" approach at Michaela Community School, and discusses whether it is harsh, or loving, to try to instil an ethos of Stoicism and individual resilience: "You say it's mean, I say it's love."

Adrian Bethune is a primary school teacher, the author of "Wellbeing in the Primary Classroom" and founder of “Teachappy”, an organisation committed to putting wellbeing and happiness at the heart of education. @AdrianBethune

Dr Lucy Foulkes is a Senior Research Fellow at the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families and an honorary lecturer in psychology at UCL. She is the author of "What Mental Illness Really Is... (and what it isn’t)". @lfoulkesy

Dr Alex Turner is Applied Research Lead at The Children's Society @DrAlexLTurner

Louis Weinstock is a psychotherapist and the author of "How the World is Making Our Children Mad and What to Do About It"

Michael Eggleton is Headteacher of the Charles Dickens Primary School and Nursery, a research school in Southwark, where he leads their wellbeing curriculum @Michael_cdps

Katharine Birbalsingh is Headmistress of Michaela Community School, Wembley, and Chair of the government's Social Mobility Commisssion. @Miss_Snuffy

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.