Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform the clinical practice of radiology. This study investigated Canadian medical students' perceptions of the impact of AI on radiology, and ...their influence on the students' preference for radiology specialty.
In March 2018, an anonymous online survey was distributed to students at all 17 Canadian medical schools.
Among 322 respondents, 70 students considered radiology as the top specialty choice, and 133 as among the top three choices. Only a minority (29.3%) of respondents agreed AI would replace radiologists in foreseeable future, but a majority (67.7%) agreed AI would reduce the demand for radiologists. Even among first-choice respondents, 48.6% agreed AI caused anxiety when considering the radiology specialty. Furthermore, one-sixth of respondents who would otherwise rank radiology as the first choice would not consider radiology because of the anxiety about AI. Prior significant exposure to radiology and high confidence in understanding of AI were shown to decrease the anxiety level. Interested students valued the opinions of local radiologists, radiology conferences, and journals. Students were most interested in "expert opinions on AI" and "discussing AI in preclinical radiology lectures" to understand the impact of AI.
Anxiety related to "displacement" (not "replacement") of radiologists by AI discouraged many medical students from considering the radiology specialty. The radiology community should educate medical students about the potential impact of AI, to ensure radiology is perceived as a viable long-term career choice.
Anxiety, although as common and arguably as debilitating as depression, has garnered less attention, and is often undetected and undertreated in the general population. Similarly, anxiety among ...medical students warrants greater attention due to its significant implications. We aimed to study the global prevalence of anxiety among medical students and the associated factors predisposing medical students to anxiety. In February 2019, we carried out a systematic search for cross-sectional studies that examined the prevalence of anxiety among medical students. We computed the aggregate prevalence and pooled odds ratio (OR) using the random-effects model and used meta-regression analyses to explore the sources of heterogeneity. We pooled and analyzed data from sixty-nine studies comprising 40,348 medical students. The global prevalence rate of anxiety among medical students was 33.8% (95% Confidence Interval: 29.2-38.7%). Anxiety was most prevalent among medical students from the Middle East and Asia. Subgroup analyses by gender and year of study found no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of anxiety. About one in three medical students globally have anxiety-a prevalence rate which is substantially higher than the general population. Administrators and leaders of medical schools should take the lead in destigmatizing mental illnesses and promoting help-seeking behaviors when students are stressed and anxious. Further research is needed to identify risk factors of anxiety unique to medical students.
Teaching medical professionalism is a fundamental component of medical education. The objective is to ensure that students understand the nature of professionalism and its obligations and internalize ...the value system of the medical profession. The recent emergence of interest in the medical literature on professional identity formation gives reason to reexamine this objective. The unstated aim of teaching professionalism has been to ensure the development of practitioners who possess a professional identity. The teaching of medical professionalism therefore represents a means to an end.The principles of identity formation that have been articulated in educational psychology and other fields have recently been used to examine the process through which physicians acquire their professional identities. Socialization—with its complex networks of social interaction, role models and mentors, experiential learning, and explicit and tacit knowledge acquisition—influences each learner, causing them to gradually “think, act, and feel like a physician.”The authors propose that a principal goal of medical education be the development of a professional identity and that educational strategies be developed to support this new objective. The explicit teaching of professionalism and emphasis on professional behaviors will remain important. However, expanding knowledge of identity formation in medicine and of socialization in the medical environment should lend greater logic and clarity to the educational activities devoted to ensuring that the medical practitioners of the future will possess and demonstrate the qualities of the “good physician.”
When I was a medical student rotating on the various clinical services and thinking about career decisions, a common refrain from those offering advice on these decisions was that an early 'branch in ...the career decision tree' was deciding whether you liked caring for patients or liked doing procedures. I sensed that this advice was creating, or at least suggesting, a false or inaccurate choice. In fact, I even remember hearing that surgeons should not get too close to their patients in order to retain a sense of detachment. Somehow I just didn't see it that way.
The prevalence of mental health problems in medical students has continuously increased and is higher than the prevalence of mental health problems in students with other majors, which could lead to ...undesirable consequences for the students and their future patients. In China, the current states of medical education and healthcare workplaces differ in certain areas from those in Western or other Asian countries. However, the mental health status of Chinese medical students has not been systematically analyzed.
The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize the prevalence of mental health problems in Chinese medical students.
All cross-sectional studies that investigated the prevalence of any mental health problem among Chinese medical students were retrieved from the following databases: EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, OVID, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. We accepted each individual trial's inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants. The National Institutes of Health Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies was adopted to appraise the methodological quality of each study. RevMan (version 5.3) was used to analyze the data.
Ten cross-sectional studies involving a total of 30,817 Chinese medical students were included. The prevalence of depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and eating disorders were 29%, 21%, 11%, and 2%, respectively. Subgroup analysis revealed no significant differences in the prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation between genders and no significant difference in the prevalence of depression between individuals of different ages (20 years and older or younger than 20 years).
Chinese medical students have relatively high prevalence of depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation but a low prevalence of eating disorders. Mental health problems in Chinese medical students should be taken seriously, and timely screening of and proper intervention in these mental health problems are highly recommended.
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