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.
The intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and medical education continues to evolve, offering avenues for enhancing both learning and clinical practice. You are already aware of this, but it seems we’re not alone! Harvard Macy Institute just put out their call for Artificial Intelligence in Medical Education Grants Program. They are providing up to $100,000/year for two years— to integrate rapidly evolving AI technologies into various facets of medical education. Here is their Informational Webinar. I’m sharing this with you all because I’ve been thinking of a submission, but want to hear your thoughts on what we could do. We’ve got a large network through this group, and would love to leverage it with your ideas and see what we could pool together for an application. If you’re interested- reach out!
OpenEvidence's Milestone Achievement
For those that know me, you know I love OpenEvidence - just see some of my last episodes. OE is a leading AI-powered medical informational platform for quickly gathering evidence-based medical insights. Their data is pulled from PubMed and summarized. They just announced its ability to now write prior auth letters for your patient needs, supported by data. The citations/lit review that this tool does is impressive, and I use it regularly with patients and students.
It will now also take your patient and calculate risk scores, like for anticoagulation, clotting/bleeding risks by giving a patient story to the platform.
AI's Role in Enhancing Diagnostic Accuracy
A recent study published in JAMA Network Open examined the influence of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT on diagnostic reasoning. Ethan, the first author on it, I am proud to say is a colleague doing some great work.
The question is: Does the use of a large language model (LLM) improve diagnostic reasoning performance among physicians in family medicine, internal medicine, or emergency medicine compared with conventional resources?
Findings: In a randomized clinical trial including 50 physicians, the use of an LLM did not significantly enhance diagnostic reasoning performance compared with the availability of only conventional resources.
Meaning: In this study, the use of an LLM did not necessarily enhance diagnostic reasoning of physicians beyond conventional resources; further development is needed to effectively integrate LLMs into clinical practice.
The findings suggest that while AI can maybe assist in generating differential diagnoses, but it's still not perfect. We still have clinical expertise and that remains essential in validating AI-generated suggestions, emphasizing the need for a collaborative approach between AI tools and healthcare professionals.
The integration of AI into medical education necessitates a comprehensive understanding of AI competencies among medical residents/students. Integration to prepare future physicians for an AI-augmented healthcare environment, is necessary to ensure they can effectively utilize AI tools while maintaining critical clinical reasoning skills.
Merry Christmas! Get some quality time with your family this break - without screens, yes, even without AI.
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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