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UrduThe move to teaching current and future physicians about harnessing the power of AI for medical decision-making puts UF ahead of the curve, said Patrick Tighe, associate dean for AI application & implementation in the UF College of Medicine and one of the courses’ developers.
The courses were initially conceived for medical students but Tighe envisions them eventually also being used by medical residents and fellows, faculty and other practicing physicians.
“The hope is that someday, it will spur some of our learners to figure out how they can develop AI tools themselves to take better care of their patients,” Tighe said.
In both AI content and their instructional approach, the courses are uncommon: Tighe said AI content is thought to be somewhat rare in medical school curricula. The courses’ content is also delivered distinctively, relying on videos, comic strips, graphics and animations to appeal to a broad range of clinicians and medical students with different learning styles.
One major challenge included developing courses that “demystify” AI by showing medical students and providers how they can leverage its capabilities, Tighe said.
To do that, Tighe and his College of Medicine colleagues Chris Giordano, an associate professor of anesthesiology, and Francois Modave. director of artificial intelligence and decision making, launched a special collaboration with experts from the UF College of Education to develop the online courses.
For the College of Education course designers, it was their first foray into AI as a topic and one of the first to rely so heavily on animations and other visuals. Every aspect of the courses’ visual presentation is intentional and holistic, said Jason D. Arnold, director of e-learning, technology and communications for the College of Education.
The resulting courses showcase several of UF’s distinctive capabilities: Harnessing the power of AI in medicine and using innovative learning techniques. There was no shortage of challenges, including teaching complicated AI topics to a diverse group of learners.
Domenic Durante, a senior instructional designer in the College of Education who helped develop the courses, said presenting advanced AI concepts in short, interactive and engaging segments was one such challenge. For the AI in Medicine project, Durante and the team went with something different from other online courses they have developed: comic strips to introduce each new learning segment.
The first course gives clinicians the fundamentals of AI, provides insight into its use in medicine and shows how to interact with campuswide experts in the field. The second course, available in late 2022, will focus on content for clinicians who want to develop their own models along with AI experts at UF. The third course focuses on natural language processing in a clinical context. Course material has already been pilot-tested with a small group of learners.
“We wanted courses that create opportunities for students to engage with each other and with the material,” Arnold said. “AI in medicine as a topic can sound enigmatic and intimidating. Our challenge to was to make the conceptual more concrete for all learners.”
About the AI in Medical Education Foundations courses:
- Distinctive in both content and approach. Artificial intelligence courses have yet to become a widespread, formal part of medical education — putting UF at the forefront of AI in medical learning. The courses are much different than traditional online lectures, deploying animations, graphics and other visual elements meant to make AI learning accessible and approachable.
- Created for a wide range of learners. The courses target professional students in medical education but are also valuable for practicing physicians who want to develop AI skills and resources. The course’s e-book is approved for continuing medical education.
- The first course consists of 19 videos, each eight to 10 minutes long. The courses, which were developed exclusively by the UF College of Medicine and College of Education, will be available to non-UF learners in the future.
- Emphasizing AI learning is yet another way UF and its academic health center are pioneering the use of artificial intelligence. The UF Intelligent Critical Care Center was formed in 2021 to develop an AI-centered intensive care unit and expand research into AI-driven diagnosis and medical decision-making.
