From Curiosity to Confidence: Exploring AI in Health Professions Education

Beth West, EdD, has spent the last five years working in health professions education and is dedicated to connecting people with transformative and innovative learning experiences. She is the executive director of Patricia A. Tietjen, MD Teaching Academy at Northwell Health, an interprofessional community practice of clinician educators committed to teaching, learning, and health professions education research and scholarship. Her role is at the center of all aspects of clinical education, including teaching, advising and mentoring, curriculum development, and learner assessment, and together with her small team she facilitates over 70 virtual and in-person educational events each year.

West noticed that the conversation surrounding AI was growing among both her organization and her scholars. While she had done some self-directed education on AI, what was initially a cautious approach to AI in her organization was evolving quickly into an overarching sense of curiosity and excitement.

“Our teaching academy has always been sort of a test kitchen/sandbox area where our scholars can really dig into new technologies, new ideas, new techniques, and new strategies to help improve learner outcomes in their various areas. So, we very strongly believed that AI would be an area where we would want to create a safe space to explore.”

As West was enrolling in the Technology and AI: Transforming Health Professions Education program, the thematic emphasis within her organization was “AI as a tool in the Clinician Educator’s Toolkit.” She felt that the program was the perfect opportunity to advance her skill set and deepen her understanding of AI in health professions education.

Keeping Human Connection at the Center of AI

Reflecting on the program, West noted that the sessions were highly organized and engaging, and that the course faculty cultivated the perfect environment for transformative learning even with a large cohort of learners. The rhythm of the course and thoughtful design, including learning labs, didactics, and virtual escape rooms, have continued to inspire her as she develops programming within her own organization.  

West highlights the microteaching sessions as extremely helpful in breaking down complex AI concepts into digestible pieces. Additionally, she felt that the open discussion and being around others who shared her interests created greater opportunity for human engagement and connection with AI. The robust coursework reinforced the human role in AI tools and helped assuage any feelings of unease that the human will “fall out of the loop.”

Despite being in a virtual classroom, West left every session feeling energized and excited. She has since started using AI tools such as Notebook LM, Synthesia, CoPilot, and ChatGPT in her daily work and has applied insights from the program to help her organization launch their own internal AI agent, affectionately dubbed “PATgpt”. The debrief discussion sessions were another highlight for West, which helped reinforce concepts and bring about new ideas throughout the program.

“The design of the program was so well thought out. I felt like there was never enough time, and that’s a great feeling,” she says. “If you can leave each online session like I did, feeling productively disrupted and wanting more, it’s a home run.”

Finding Community in a Virtual Classroom

The program also provided ample opportunity for West to engage with both the faculty and her peers during small group activities and other interactive virtual sessions. The interprofessional cohort of health professions educators enriched the program with a wide range of perspectives, experiences, and personalities. Initially, West felt some concern about not having a traditional clinical background. But once the course began, she felt valued for her unique insights.  

“I never felt excluded in any way,” she says. “Even when some of the examples were around clinical diagnoses, everyone was incredibly inclusive, and I was able to fully participate. They welcomed the perspective that I brought as a non-clinician educator. So, I loved the interprofessional aspect.”

Bringing AI Insights Home

Since completing the program, West has shared new ideas and perspectives on the expansive and sometimes intimidating world of AI with her team. These insights have been particularly valuable as her organization navigates a merger into a larger health care system. Rather than viewing AI with fear or as a force that could create silos and isolation, West now approaches it with a greater sense of confidence and possibility. She feels energized by the opportunity to thoughtfully integrate new tools into her organization and use them to improve day-to-day work.

West has also stayed in close contact with her cohort and course faculty. Several of her peers will deliver sessions on AI at upcoming events within her organization, and she has formed a partnership with MedEdMentor, an AI mentor for health professions education scholarship, with the help of Dr. Geoff Stetson, a Harvard Macy Institute alumnus. West also continues to work closely with course director Elissa Hall, EdD, MA, whose work in health professions education she has admired for years. Hall will deliver the Grand Rounds presentation at the 6th Annual Academic Symposium at Danbury Hospital in June 2027.  

“Being able to establish a high level of comfort with these tools in a psychologically safe space helped me bring that same opportunity to my learners and to these partnerships that have sprung up because of it. I don’t think they would have been possible without being a learner in this program.”