JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as ChatGPT, in the educational landscape has the potential to enhance the learning experience of medical informatics students and prepare them for using AI in professional settings. The incorporation of AI in classes aims to develop critical thinking by encouraging students to interact with ChatGPT and critically analyze the responses generated by the chatbot. This approach also helps students develop important skills in the field of biomedical and health informatics to enhance their interaction with AI tools.

Objective:

To explore the perceptions of students regarding the use of ChatGPT as a learning tool in their educational context and provide professors with examples of prompts for incorporating ChatGPT into their teaching and learning activities, thereby enhancing the educational experience for students in medical informatics courses.

Methods:

This study employed a mixed-methods approach to gain insights from students regarding the use of ChatGPT in education. To accomplish this, a structured questionnaire was applied to evaluate students' familiarity with ChatGPT, gauge their perceptions of its utility, and understand their attitudes towards its utilization in academic and learning tasks. This exploratory survey was employed as an initial assessment to lay the groundwork for potential integration strategies within educational curricula. To this end, the study included an analysis of the learning outcomes of two courses to propose the incorporation of ChatGPT in the Master's Programs in Medicine and in Medical Informatics.

Results:

The majority of students expressed contentment with the utilization of ChatGPT in education, finding it beneficial for various purposes, including generating academic content, brainstorming ideas, and rewriting text. While some participants raised concerns about potential biases and the need for informed usage, the overall perception was positive. Additionally, the study proposed integrating ChatGPT into two specific courses in the Master's Program in Medicine and in Medical Informatics. The incorporation of ChatGPT was envisioned to enhance student learning experiences and assist in project planning, programming code generation, exam preparation, workflow exploration, and technical interview preparation, thus advancing medical informatics education. In medical teaching, it will be used as an assistant for the simplified explanation of concepts, an assistant for the resolution of complex problems and the generation of clinical narratives and patient simulators.

Conclusions:

The study's valuable insights into medical faculty students' perspectives and integration proposals for ChatGPT serve as an informative guide for professors aiming to enhance medical informatics education. The research delves into the potential of ChatGPT, emphasizes the necessity of collaboration in academic environments, identifies subject areas with discernible benefits, and underscores its transformative role in fostering innovative and engaging learning experiences. The envisaged proposals hold promise in empowering future healthcare professionals to work in the rapidly evolving era of digital healthcare.