Park SH, Pinto-Powell R, Thesen T, et al. Preparing healthcare leaders of the digital age with an integrative artificial intelligence curriculum: a pilot study. Med Educ Online. Dec 31 2024;29(1):2315684.
This pilot assessed the effectiveness of a non-credit elective course for first-year medical students focused on integrating AI concepts into preclinical education. As AI informed care opportunities grow, patients’ trust and understanding of these concepts remain limited. Increasing future physicians’ ability to explain these concepts in plain language is essential. Promoting awareness of AI integration and tools starting during medical school may facilitate better communication between physicians and patients. The pilot course, with ten students, was designed to complement the first four system blocks of the first-year medical school curriculum: immunology, hematology, cardiology, and pulmonology. A paper was selected for review during the course to align with the medical school curriculum. Each block comprised three learning modules: a journal club that reviewed the data science concept utilized in the paper, a demonstration of the method via a live coding session, and an integration session led by a speaker involved with the AI study. These themes address the principles of machine learning models, data pre-processing, model construction and validation, and model translatability. Before and after each learning block, students took a survey asking them to report their confidence in explaining the learning objectives of each block, as well as the relevance of the papers. Across all four blocks, students reported more confidence in describing content objectives after taking the course (Immunology: p = 0.030; Hematology: p = 0.009; Cardiology: p = 0.019; Pulmonology: p = 0.030). Given the self-selection, it is unsurprising that the course was rated positively, with an overall score of 4.29/5. Future research might focus on implementing hands-on projects with AI model building and testing in larger-scale medical classes.