Episode 22
what is in your AI toolkit?
Educators in Medicine,
In this newsletter, we continue our journey through the fundamentals of AI, its applications in medicine, and its transformative role in faculty development and education. Let’s dive into learning.
Your AI-enabled Clinical toolkit: What Can I Do Now?
In today’s fast-paced healthcare environment, physicians are constantly seeking tools that can enhance their efficiency, improve patient care, and reduce the administrative burden. Fortunately, a growing number of free, AI-powered services are available to help streamline everything from medical documentation to clinical decision support.
One of my mentors suggested making a toolkit for our readers - so, here it is!
In this toolkit, we highlight some of the best (free) resources that can assist with various aspects of a physician’s work. Whether it’s automating note-taking, generating clinical insights, or fostering professional networking, these tools are designed to support healthcare providers in delivering top-quality care while saving time.
1. OpenEvidence
OpenEvidence - by far my favorite on the list - provides a platform for quickly gathering evidence-based medical insights by utilizing AI to answer clinical questions. Its focus is on supporting medical decisions with up-to-date, relevant data pulled from PubMed. Users can input clinical queries, and the tool offers reliable, evidence-based responses within seconds, saving physicians time in researching guidelines or medical literature. Available both as a web application and a mobile app for convenient on-the-go access. I use this in clinic and hospital settings on the fly, significantly changing how I practice and teach. We use it together - “we” being patients and learners. In the example below, you’ll see my questions with the response including direct links to citations. Priceless (literally).
Website: OpenEvidence Ask
Mobile App: Yes
Cost: Free
2. Doximity DocsGPT
Doximity is designed for physicians looking for a comprehensive professional network and DocsGPT added AI features. It integrates an AI-powered assistant, DocsGPT, for simplifying medical documentation, such as generating patient notes or referral letters. Physicians can connect, share cases, and leverage the network for career development. Doximity is also highly popular for its telehealth services and collaboration tools - which I'm sure many of you have used for some time since the pandemic.
The app works great on your phone, is HIPAA compliant, can answer clinical questions, help chart notes, and create patient education materials. You can send them through the app directly to your patients. If you build a note for missing school or work, you can fax directly from the app as well. Big time saver.
Website: Doximity DocsGPT
Mobile App: Yes
Cost: Free
3. Glass Health AI
Glass Health AI offers a diagnostic support system that leverages AI to assist clinicians in developing differential diagnoses and treatment plans. It's a valuable resource for clinicians seeking assistance in rare or complex cases, improving decision-making accuracy. The platform provides medical knowledge and is easy to use for both students and seasoned professionals. We’ve mentioned this one before here and I really like the interface, so thought it worth mentioning again. They recently announced a new focus on developing Glass AI CDS features, so I am excited to see what comes from that endeavor.
Website: Glass Health AI
Mobile App: Not available
Cost: Free-mium, pay for the full version
4. AI Scribes…
If you’ve followed my blog, you’ll know I am not always a fan of these for continuity clinical work, but they certainly have their utility. AI ambient scribing tools have become a game-changer for healthcare providers, helping to automate the often time-consuming task of medical documentation. These tools listen to conversations between physicians and patients, and transcribe relevant clinical information in real-time, allowing doctors to focus more on patient care and less on paperwork. While some services, such as Nabla and Heidi, operate on a freemium model, offering basic demos for free with paid upgrades. I am still awaiting the open source entirely free option. No reason why we can’t provide a free AI-powered scribe service designed specifically for physicians. My institution provided us with DAX, integrated in Epic, which helps. There are many online - so will encourage you to trial them and let me know what you think! These tools are addendums to the clinical workflow (see what I did there?), offering doctors a way to reclaim time, while ensuring high-quality documentation for patient records.
Website: Google is your friend
Cost: Free
5. NEJM AI
NEJM has regular journal subscription fees, it is a journal after all, but they’ve got some free content they post periodically here on their page
Coming soon they have an event I plan on attending - October 9th. If you follow them on X, they announce them. This one is on AI in Health Care – Putting Patients First. They announced “experts in the field of AI will discuss how patients are using AI tools today, and how care health care organizations can optimize that use to minimize the risk while enhancing engagement and the overall patient experience. Join us on October 9th, 12:00 PM – 2:15 PM ET.” Register Now!
Website: NEJM AI
Mobile App: Not available
Cost: Free-mium, pay for the full articles
As always - get in touch and let me know your thoughts!
Thank you for joining us on this adventure. Stay tuned for more AI insights, best practices, and more future editions of AI+MedEd.
For education and innovation,
Karim
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