# Social Robots in Hospitals: A Systematic Review
## 5 Conclusions  
This paper analyzed the state-of-the-art concerning social robots in hospitals, focusing on healthcare contexts, and using WoS and PUBMED as the principal sources of data. As the principal outcomes of this systematic study, we note the following:  
* The interest in the use and real application of social robots in hospitals are relatively new: we observed that publications about this topic have increased from 2011. Although the review began in previous years, it was in 2011 when articles that met the inclusion criteria for this review began to appear with more frequency. Therefore, a growing interest in the use of assistive robots in the hospital setting can be observed from that year onwards. * There is still no academic consensus around the term \"social robots\". * There are two central populations where social robots have been applied: children and the elderly. * Despite the principal potential users (children and elderly) of social robots, some applications for diseases appear in the literature: dementia, cancer, diabetes, and ASD. * The bibliometric study shows no consolidated research community around social robots in hospitals or for healthcare. Establishing a consolidated discipline around these topics would require an extensive collaboration network. * There are many benefits to using social robots in healthcare contexts, such as in mental health, where robots promote a positive mood, engagement, trust, less stress or pain, more relaxation, smiling and openness, better communication, and other emotional positive effects. Some patients felt deep emotions towards the social robots. Negative experiences appeared only in children on rare occasions. * Social robots are beneficial during long periods of isolation and were of help during the pandemic. Moreover, in different environments such as school or home, telepresence provided a good quality of service. * Although there are several ethical approaches to use robots in medicine, there is a challenge in accepting their use with children and as care workers. Differences were found depending on the context (workplace or home). * The main ethical concerns are privacy, restraint, deception, accountability, personal space, and psychological damage. Many researchers agree that more information and data must be gathered to improve their design and interaction to overcome ethical issues. * There are several initiatives involving ethics in technology that should be taken into account in the design of social robots for healthcare. Regarding the design of the robot, the influence of the media factor, such as films or series, has been identified; the cultural imaginary creates expectations and prejudices towards social robots. This influence should not be taken into account in the initial phases of the design prototypes. As we have seen, the uses of social robots are diverse, and focus on two groups (children and elderly), and very specific contexts usually associated with diseases or disabilities. However, due to the positive influence that in most cases they have on patients, and to the growing amount of literature on the subject, we predict that robot interactions will increase (i.e., expansion of emotional accompaniment, forms of communication, the performance of more types of routines), as will use contexts in hospitals (i.e., expanding contact with more types of patients and new ways of receiving patients). Still, a question remains that should be explored: why have social robots not been widely used already in hospitals? Some reasons can be attributed to the maturity of the field of social robots, but not others. For instance, many reasons not related directly to engineering can act as barrier to the adoption of technology, including the use of robots in healthcare: for example, economic aspects, the medical staff's lack of technical knowledge, or the staff's behavioral intention [87; 88]. Thus, the effective adoption of social robots in healthcare provides an interesting area of research to expand in the future.