EMBRACING CHANGE
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine : Perspectives from Medical Students
by JAHNAVI SUNKARA , M3 , KATHERINE CERMACK , M2 , ISABELLE HATTAB , M1 & WHITNEY J . RICHARDSON , M4
machine learning ( ML ) and artificial intelligence ( AI ) increasingly becoming a regular part of medical professionals ’ toolkits , is the current model in medical education appropriate for training the clinicians of tomorrow ? Should AI be taught as a fundamental tool of medicine ?
INTRODUCTION
The Flexner Report of 1910 transformed medical education in the U . S . by establishing the biomedical model as the gold standard of medical training . 1 This paradigm shift embraced scientific knowledge and its advancement as the defining ethos of a modern physician . Much of the credit for this transformation has been attributed to Abraham Flexner , a child of German and Jewish immigrants , born in Louisville in 1866 . He was a former schoolteacher and became a renowned expert on educational practices .
While the Flexner model remains in place today , we have learned that scientific medicine must also encompass the physician ’ s healing role . To foster this art , practice-based learning , a Flexner initiative , is now supplemented in medical education by courses in patient communication , medical ethics and medical humanities . With
Perhaps the etiology of resistance to change in an era of pervasive ML and AI is a lack of understanding . Machine learning , a type of AI that involves training computers with data to perform dedicated tasks , has been applied across the health care spectrum . However , health care trainees are not taught how to successfully utilize and evaluate ML and AI tools . To be informed stakeholders in an AI-powered health care system , learners and medical professionals should understand ML and AI tools and how to use them in the clinical setting .
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE : TRANSFORMATIVE POTENTIAL
In some ways , artificial intelligence is already ubiquitous in medicine , including technology such as robotic surgery and the algorithm-powered artificial pancreas . In other ways , the journey to harness AI to improve patient care is just beginning . Currently , there are over a thousand studies listed on clinicaltrials . gov that
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