Some might have allergic reaction to hear the term “nursing robots”. Is it true it only steals nurses’ job opportunity? To differentiate expert nurses’ activity from simple repetitive maneuvers, the clinical judgments made by skilled nurses were illustrated as activity diagrams, and the endotracheal suctioning technique, which is an essential nursing technique for mechanical ventilator care, is verbalized. In addition, a series of endotracheal suction tasks of skilled nurses are expressed in words to make a flow chart. By doing so, we can consider clarifying the scope of efficiency that can be improved through automation. As a result, rather than treating nurses' dedicated care during an emerging infectious disease outbreak amidst a shortage of personal protective equipment as a virtue, we can determine a room for developing novel nursing technology. Just as a diver would not dive without an oxygen tank, no matter how important it may be to save a victim’s life. It is significantly important for nurses to develop a nursing technology to mutually respect and protect our own lives by ourselves. We must be continuing to jointly discuss a space for nursing automation with engineering professionals. One good example is an automatic suctioning system equipped with a mechanical ventilator for the next global pandemic, such as COVID-19.

Noriyo Colley has completed her Master of Nursing Studies from La Trobe University and postdoctoral studies from Hokkaido University School of Education. She is the ex-member of the ICN NP/APN Network (2018-2022), and conducting collaborative research called ESTE-SIM project. She has published more than 80 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of the Japan Journal of Nursing Science English journal.