AI in medical practice

Published: October 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a powerful technology that can potentially transform medicine. This can provide physicians with opportunities to enhance patient care and reduce administrative burden. However, health professionals must understand the risks and issues in order to make informed decisions. Items to consider include the following.

• AI is difficult to define broadly, as the term applies to a wide spectrum of applications and tools. Physicians should understand the risks and benefits of the specific AI tools that they plan to use in their practice.
• To ensure that the tools are safe and reliable, consider whether there has been regulatory approval from Health Canada; whether your College has guidelines or standards around AI; and whether a professional association or medical society has endorsed specific technologies or vendors.
• Understand the privacy and security parameters of the tool. Consider if and how the AI tool collects and uses patient data, and ensure that patients have provided informed consent regarding the collection, storage, or sharing of their health information.
• All AI models will have some inherent bias. Bias can also be present in how an AI tool is deployed, implemented, operated, and maintained. To mitigate bias, it is critical to recognize that it can and does occur, even in the absence of harmful intent.

We encourage members who have questions about using AI in their practice to review our position paper and other resources.

Position paper

• The medico-legal lens on AI use by Canadian physicians

Articles

• AI Scribes: Answers to frequently asked questions
• The emergence of AI in healthcare
• Recording clinical encounters with patients: What physicians need to know
• What to do if you’re notified of a College complaint

Webinar

• CMPA - Navigating AI in healthcare

Research

• Evaluating Literature Reviews Conducted by Humans Versus ChatGPT: Comparative Study