Florida hospitals are turning to a local health tech startup and Amazon's Alexa to relieve the nursing shortage in the state, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Gale Healthcare Solutions, a tech company headquartered in Tampa, Fla., offers a contract nursing app that is used by nearly 31,000 nurses and 600 healthcare facilities in the state, according to the June 24 story. Florida is expected to have a dearth of nearly 60,000 nurses by 2035, per Florida Hospital Association data cited by the newspaper.
Two of Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System's 16 hospitals, meanwhile, have been using voice technology from health tech firm Aiva and Amazon's Alexa that allows patients to talk to nurses directly rather than hitting a call button, the news outlet reported. A new BayCare hospital in Wesley Chapel, Fla., which opened in March, has Alexa-powered smart rooms that also give patients the ability to adjust the lighting, air conditioning and entertainment options via voice commands.