Nicole Fontenot

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Nicole Fontenot is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of human-robot interaction (HRI) and healthcare education, with a primary focus on developing robotic tutors to address critical workforce shortages in nursing. Her landmark work, "Robotic Tutors for Nurse Training: Opportunities for HRI Researchers" (2023), has garnered early recognition with 2 citations, establishing a foundational framework for integrating socially assistive robots into clinical skills assessment. Fontenot’s major contribution lies in identifying how robotic platforms can deliver standardized, repeatable training scenarios that alleviate the burden on human preceptors while maintaining rigorous competency evaluations. By bridging the gap between HRI design principles and the pressing demands of modern healthcare—where increasingly complex patient care requires frequent nurse upskilling—she has opened new avenues for scalable, technology-driven solutions. Her research directly responds to the ongoing nurse labor shortage, proposing that robotic tutors can enhance both training efficiency and patient safety outcomes. Fontenot’s work is notable for its practical, interdisciplinary approach, offering a roadmap for HRI researchers to collaborate with nursing educators in creating adaptive, empathetic training tools. As her citation impact grows, she is positioned as a key voice in transforming how healthcare professionals are prepared for high-stakes clinical environments.