Artificial Intelligence for Health Professions Education

The Harvard Macy Institute Podcast aims to connect our Harvard Macy Institute community and to develop our interest in health professions education topics and literature. Our podcast is hosted by our Program for Educators in the Health Professions course faculty Victoria Brazil, and will feature interviews with health professions education authors and their research papers.

Podcast #14 features HMI faculty member Martin Pusic in a discussion about artificial intelligence (AI), big data, analytics, and algorithms – and how they might transform health care and health professions education.

It can seem like everyone is talking about ‘AI’, ‘big data’, and algorithms – in health care, in education, and in our wider society. What does that really mean? And what implications will it have for health professionals and those that support their education and training?

In this episode of the HMI podcast, Vic talks with Martin Pusic about terminology, examples where AI is currently being used, and the tensions that exist as the field moves forward. He explains that we are going to need new skills and new collaborations, and there are pitfalls along the way. The bright hope is that health care and health care professionals are better guided in their practice through large amounts of well understood data and predictive analytics, while balancing our humanistic perspectives with our technical ones.

For more reading on the topic, Martin recommended Developing the Role of Big Data and Analytics in Health Professional Education, Why We Needn’t Fear the Machines: Opportunities for Medicine in a Machine Learning World, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada’s Task Force Report on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Digital Technologies.

Victoria Brazil, MD (Educators, ’05, Leaders ’07, Assessment ‘10) is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of Simulation at Bond University Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine. Her research interests include podcasting and simulation, and she is co-producer of Simulcast - a podcast about health care simulation. Victoria can be followed on Twitter.