Chat GPT in Healthcare Ed

Perhaps as many of you, I continue to engage in conversations on the potential effect of Chat GPT on higher ed, specifically this week on healthcare education. So, I would like to share a very recent article on this topic that I believe can generalize to many academic areas. The title is “ChatGPT utility in healthcare education, research, and practice: Systematic review on the promising perspectives and valid concerns” by Sallam (2023). The author reminds us that “ChatGPT (launched in November 2022) is an artificial intelligence (AI)-based conversational large language model. The potential applications could be promising if the associated valid concerns are proactively examined and addressed.”

In the research, a systematic search was conducted to retrieve records in PubMed/MEDLINE and Google Scholar that examined ChatGPT in the context of health care education. A total of 60 records were identified. Benefits of ChatGPT were cited in 51/60 records and included:

1. improved scientific writing and enhancing research equity and versatility;

2. utility in health care research (efficient analysis of datasets, code generation, literature reviews, saving time to focus on experimental design, and drug discovery and development);

3. benefits in health care practice (streamlining the workflow, cost saving, documentation, personalized medicine, and improved health literacy); and

4. benefits in health care education including improved personalized learning and the focus on critical thinking and problem-based learning.

Concerns were stated in 58/60 records including ethical, copyright, transparency, and legal issues, the risk of bias, plagiarism, lack of originality, inaccurate content, limited knowledge, incorrect citations, cybersecurity issues, and risk of infodemics.

As a cross reference to this article, I asked Chat GPT the following prompt, “Describe the benefits and challenges of using Chat GPT in healthcare education.” The result included:

“Chat GPT, being a large language model, has the potential to provide benefits in healthcare education. However, it also presents some challenges. Here are some of the benefits and challenges of using Chat GPT:

Benefits:

1. Enhanced learning experience: Chat GPT can provide an engaging and interactive learning experience for students. It can understand and respond to natural language, making it easier for students to ask questions and get immediate answers.

2. Personalized learning: Chat GPT can be programmed to provide personalized learning experiences based on the student's level of understanding and learning.

3. Improved retention: Chat GPT can help improve retention of knowledge by providing frequent reminders and quizzes on important concepts.

4. Cost-effective: Using Chat GPT in healthcare education can be a cost-effective way to provide personalized learning experiences to a large number of students.

Challenges:

1. Data privacy: Healthcare education involves sensitive information, and the use of Chat GPT requires careful consideration of data privacy regulations.

2. Accuracy: Chat GPT relies on its training data, which may not always be accurate or comprehensive. There is a risk of incorrect or biased responses if the data is not carefully curated.

3. Lack of physical interaction: Chat GPT may not be able to replace the benefits of hands-on learning and physical interaction with instructors and peers.

4. Integration with existing systems: Integrating Chat GPT with existing healthcare education systems may require significant resources and technical expertise.”

References

Sallam, M. (2023). ChatGPT utility in Healthcare Education, Research, and Practice: Systematic review on the promising perspectives and valid concerns. Healthcare (Basel). 19;11(6), 887. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11060887. PMID: 36981544; PMCID: PMC10048148.