Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Education
Date Submitted: Jul 26, 2023
Date Accepted: Dec 2, 2023
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: A Cross-Sectional Study among Medical Students on Application, Education, and Ethical Aspects
ABSTRACT
Background:
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine not only directly impacts the medical profession but is also increasingly associated with various potential ethical aspects. Additionally, the expanding use of AI and AI-based applications such as ChatGPT demands a corresponding shift in medical education to adequately prepare future practitioners for the effective utilization of these tools and to address the associated ethical challenges they present
Objective:
This study investigated the influence of AI-based chat applications such as ChatGPT on the perceptions of medical students from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland regarding the use of AI in medicine and the teaching of AI and AI ethics in medical education
Methods:
This cross-sectional study, conducted from June 15 to July 15, 2023, surveyed medical students across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, using an online questionnaire. This study aimed to assess students' perceptions of AI in medicine, and the integration of AI and AI ethics into medical education. The questionnaire, which included 53 items across six sections, was developed and pre-tested. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics (median, mode, IQR, total number, and percentages) and either chi-square or Mann-Whitney U tests as appropriate
Results:
Surveying 487 medical students across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland revealed limited formal education on AI or AI ethics within medical curricula, although 38.8% had prior experience with AI-based chat applications. Despite varied prior exposures, 71.7% anticipated AI's positive impact of AI on medicine. There was widespread consensus (74.9%) on the need for AI and AI ethics instruction in medical education, although the current offerings were deemed inadequate. Regarding AI ethics education content, all proposed topics were rated highly relevant
Conclusions:
This study revealed a pronounced discrepancy between the usage of AI-based (chat) applications, such as ChatGPT, among medical students in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and the teaching of AI in medical education. To adequately prepare future medical professionals, there is an urgent need to integrate AI and AI ethics into medical curricula
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.