New app uses AI to help Calgary medical students practise interacting with patients
![University of Calgary grad accused of espionage University of Calgary (File)](/content/dam/ctvnews/en/images/2022/10/26/university-of-calgary-grad-accused-of-espionage-1-6126326-1692467173472.jpg)
A Calgary medical student has developed an app that allows future doctors to work on their diagnostic and communication skills before they set up their practices.
Eddie Guo, a second-year student at the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine, said one of the challenges beyond the book learning in medical school is becoming better at interacting with patients.
As a result, he's turned to the rapidly growing area of artificial intelligence to create a number of virtual patients, with a variety of health conditions, that a student can talk to.
“It's good to get more than just two or four hours of the practice we get in medical school to really be able understand what it's like to communicate in a real-life scenario,” said Guo.
“We think it's a good idea to have more than a few hours of practice before actually going out into the wild and seeing patients for the first time.”
Guo created a program, called OSCE-GPT, where the computer is the patient. Users choose the patient's gender and can select a scenario or let the computer decide on one for them.
“I'm Ben Johnson and I've been having some really bad abdominal pains over the past two days. It's in the right upper quadrant and it spreads to my back,” said the robotic male voice in the program.
“I've also been feeling nauseous and vomiting. I'm here in the emergency department because of the pain.”
The AI patient can answer questions about its condition and, after the conversation, provides feedback to the student along with a list of other questions that could have been asked.
Guo said until he is finally allowed on the medical wards, the only other interactions he gets are with standardized patients, professional actors who present with various conditions.
“As you can imagine, they're really quite good at their job, but they're also very expensive,” Guo said.
“We don't get that much opportunity really to practise speaking with a patient, and so what this app was born out of was a lack of possibility to practise.”
Guo collaborated with medical resident Dr. Mehul Gupta. He said this kind of additional help will make for better doctors.
“One of the things we learn again and again in medical school, and that's reinforced again in residency, is that the history you take from a patient is almost 99 per cent of the diagnosis that you make and the impression you make on a patient the first time you speak with them is long-lasting,” Gupta said.
“If you have the opportunity to practise to tailor your questions to see how you could have done better, you really do become a better doctor overall.”
Guo said the app is still being upgraded and at this point there is no image of a patient that shows up on the screen. He said he is hoping that things like a chest X-ray, a CT scan or a picture of someone's skin could be incorporated into the program.
Within the first month of the app's launch, more than 550 health-care trainees from Canada and across the world including Europe, India, Saudi Arabia and the United States signed on.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2023.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6963716.1720995403!/httpImage/image.jpeg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpeg)
DEVELOPING What we know about the 20-year-old man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., as the suspect in Saturday's attempted assassination of former U.S. president Donald Trump at a campaign rally.
Trudeau says he spoke with Trump after shooting, condemned political violence
The Prime Minister's office says Justin Trudeau spoke this afternoon with former president Donald Trump in the wake of a deadly shooting at one of his campaign rallies on Saturday.
Read the letter from Melania Trump responding to attempted assassination of Donald Trump
Former first lady Melania Trump issued her first public response since her husband, former President Donald Trump, was injured in a shooting at one of his rallies on Saturday.
Donald Trump arrives in Milwaukee for RNC after assassination attempt heightens security fears
Former U.S. president Donald Trump has arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention a day after he was targeted in an attempted assassination at a campaign event.
DEVELOPING FBI investigating Trump rally attack as potential act of domestic terrorism
On the heels of an attempt to kill him, former U.S. President Donald Trump called Sunday for unity and resilience as shocked leaders across the political divide recoiled from the shooting that left him wounded but 'fine.'
How the attempt on Donald Trump's life could impact the U.S. presidential election
The aftermath of the attempted assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump this weekend could give him an edge among voters and send him back to the Oval Office, according to one political expert.
Obituary Shannen Doherty, '90210' actress, dies at 53, People magazine reports
American actor Shannen Doherty, best known for her role as high school student Brenda Walsh on hit 1990s television drama 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' has died at age 53 following a years-long battle with cancer.
Spain beats England 2-1 to win record fourth European Championship title
Spain is the king of European soccer for a record fourth time. For England, it's another agonizing near-miss in the team's decades-long tale of underachievement.
Kate, the Princess of Wales, hands Carlos Alcaraz his Wimbledon trophy in a rare appearance for her
Kate, the Princess of Wales, handed Carlos Alcaraz the champion's trophy after the Wimbledon men's final at the All England Club on Sunday in only her second public appearance since announcing she was diagnosed with cancer.