A new study from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has shown that machine learning and artificial intelligence are a growing tool in the medical field, but that machine learning training is lacking in current medical education programs.
Machine learning and artificial technology are future assistants of doctors, but medical students aren't receiving machine learning training in school.
"The general public has become quite aware of AI and the impact it can have on health care outcomes such as providing clinicians with improved diagnostics. However, if medical education does not begin to teach medical students about AI and how to apply it to patient care then the advancement of technology will be limited in use and its impact on patient care," said corresponding author Vijaya B. Kolachalama, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).
The researchers found that the number of medical papers on machine learning (ML) has significantly increased in the last ten years. But the number of papers published on graduate and undergraduate medical education programs has remained unchanged since 2010.
In response to this finding, Kolachalama created and taught a class at BUSM that focused on machine learning and machine learning training. The course’s goal was to educate the next generation of doctors and young researchers about machine learning and data science concepts in the biomedical and life sciences fields.
Integrating machine learning into medical education could pave the way for future doctors to easily adjust to advances in technology and recognize future conditions and applications where machine learning could be implemented.
"As medical education thinks about competencies for physicians, ML should be embedded into information technology and the education in that domain," said Priya Sinha Garg, MD, associate dean ad interim for academic affairs at BUSM. "Technology without physician knowledge of its potential and applications does not make sense and will only further perpetuate healthcare costs."
The study was published in NPJ Digital Medicine.
