Abstract
ObjectivesTo explore the attitudes of United Kingdom (UK) medical students regarding artificial intelligence (AI), their understanding, and career intention towards radiology. We also examine the state of education relating to AI amongst this cohort.MethodsUK medical students were invited to complete an anonymous electronic survey consisting of Likert and dichotomous questions.ResultsFour hundred eighty-four responses were received from 19 UK medical schools. Eighty-eight percent of students believed that AI will play an important role in healthcare, and 49% reported they were less likely to consider a career in radiology due to AI. Eighty-nine percent of students believed that teaching in AI would be beneficial for their careers, and 78% agreed that students should receive training in AI as part of their medical degree. Only 45 students received any teaching on AI; none of the students received such teaching as part of their compulsory curriculum. Statistically, students that did receive teaching in AI were more likely to consider radiology (p = 0.01) and rated more positively to the questions relating to the perceived competence in the post-graduation use of AI (p = 0.01–0.04); despite this, a large proportion of students in the taught group reported a lack of confidence and understanding required for the critical use of healthcare AI tools.ConclusionsUK medical students understand the importance of AI and are keen to engage. Medical school training on AI should be expanded and improved. Realistic use cases and limitations of AI must be presented to students so they will not feel discouraged from pursuing radiology.
Highlights
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare continues to generate increasing interest
There are AI tools that employ deep learning methods such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) which are effective at performing narrow classification
We are unaware of any published studies investigating the views and attitudes that United Kingdom (UK) medical students hold towards AI, nor are we aware of any European study that examines the influence exerted upon medical students by the development of AI
Summary
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare continues to generate increasing interest. There is currently a paucity of evidence to support routine use of AI algorithms in realworld clinical practice, it is expected that with increasing academic and industry interest, validated use cases for AI tools in radiology will likely emerge rapidly [7]. The Topol review places explicit emphasis on the importance of arming the current and future clinical workforce with the necessary skills to work critically with novel digital tools, including those underpinned by AI. There exists some anecdotal evidence that certain UK medical schools do provide limited educational opportunities in healthcare AI; the actual prevalence of such training and the level of AI literacy amongst the UK medical student population remains unknown. The Canadian group found that a significant proportion of Canadian medical students were less likely to consider radiology as a career due to fear of replacement. We are unaware of any published studies investigating the views and attitudes that UK medical students hold towards AI, nor are we aware of any European study that examines the influence exerted upon medical students by the development of AI
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