AI scribes: Useful tools in medical education or a crutch that imperils learning?

Lauren writes about healthcare AI data interoperability, the science behind public health recommendations, and pharmaceutical advances in the rare disease space.

Hospitals have been quick to adopt artificial intelligence tools for automating note-taking during patient visits, saying they help lower physician burnout and increase revenues. Medical schools, though, are facing a vexing quandary over AI scribes.

As much as educators want future physicians to be well-versed in the technology, they worry that letting students off-load the struggle of thinking through differential diagnoses to AI could do irreparable harm during the formative years of their medical training.

“The process of deliberately crafting the note forces us to use our brains to really wrestle with what’s happening,” said Jaideep Talwalkar, associate dean of educational technology and innovation at Yale School of Medicine. “There’s an importance in doing that with great repetition.”