Medicine is embracing AI in a wide-ranging way, with applications that touch nearly every aspect of healthcare.
Here are some of the key areas where AI is making a difference: improved diagnoses, drug development, personalized treatment, and remote patient care.
In practical terms, a doctor using an AI assistant can analyze a patient’s medical history, identify potential risks, and suggest treatment options. The doctor can then use this information to make a more informed diagnosis.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is making computers good at things that usually require human intelligence. Here’s a breakdown:
1. Learning and problem-solving: AI systems can analyze data, identify patterns, and use that knowledge to tackle new problems. For example, an AI system analyzing medical scans might be able to detect abnormalities with higher accuracy than a human radiologist.
2. Automation: AI can automate tasks that are repetitive or require processing large amounts of information. Think of chatbots answering customer service questions or recommendation algorithms suggesting products you might like.
3. Decision-making: AI can be trained to make decisions based on complex data sets. For instance, an AI system might be used to assess loan applications or predict fraud risk.
AI isn’t about robots taking over the world. It’s about using computer power to enhance human capabilities in various fields.
Here are a few examples of the ways AI can assist physicians during board preparation:
Knowledge Access and Organization:
• Search and summarize: AI can quickly trawl through vast amounts of medical literature and educational resources to find relevant information on specific topics or answer focused questions.
• Compile study guides: Tell AI the specific board you’re studying for, and it can help compile a study guide by summarizing key concepts, highlighting high-yield topics, and providing links to credible sources.
Practice and Assessment:
• Generate practice questions: AI can create multiple-choice, short-answer, and case-based questions similar to those found on board exams. It can tailor the difficulty level to your needs.
• Provide explanations: After answering practice questions, AI can explain the correct answers and the reasoning behind them, highlighting common mistakes to avoid.
• Identify knowledge gaps: By analyzing your performance on practice questions, AI can pinpoint areas where you might need to focus your studying.
Additional Benefits:
• Time management: AI can help you create a personalized study schedule that optimizes your time and ensures you cover all the necessary material.
• Stay up-to-date: AI can inform you of recent medical advancements and guideline changes relevant to your board exam.
An AI app that I frequently use is Google Gemini (released on February 8), the new umbrella name for all of Google’s AI tools. Head over to the Gemini website and use the AI there in the typical way you interact with an online chatbot. You’ll be amazed!
The AMA ChangeMedEd initiative and the University of Michigan DATA-MD team have developed a seven-part online learning series that introduces learners to foundational principles in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
Artificial intelligence is having a major impact on the world, the field of medicine, and medical education. While AI can be a valuable tool for many things, it’s crucial to remember that it cannot replace traditional study methods or guarantee success on the boards. For comprehensive exam preparation, you should utilize a variety of resources.
It is not unusual for medical learners—at all levels of the learning spectrum—to spend all their time studying, mostly reading and testing, without recalling what they learned, resulting in little retention. This is a mistake that you can easily rectify.
Two Ways to Make Reflection a Part of Your Daily Board Preparation Make reflection a regular part of your daily study regimen by making it a habit to reflect on your learning as you study, especially:
(1) At the end of the day, ask yourself: What were the key things I learned? What went well? What challenges did I encounter? How can I improve my study tomorrow?
Take a few minutes to record a voice memo on your smart phone explaining key concepts or answering practice questions (especially ones you struggle with). Then, listen to these recordings while commuting, exercising, or doing other activities—essentially creating your own personalized audio study guide. This process forces you to articulate your knowledge and identify areas that need improvement.
(2)At the end of the week, solidify your learning and boost long-term memory by going beyond a simple skim. Dive deeper by revisiting key learning points, re-examining missed questions,and even those you guessed correctly. Analyze these questions to identify areas for improvement and solidify understanding. Most importantly, actively seek connections between the different topics you covered throughout the week. This process of weaving knowledge together strengthens your grasp of the material and unlocks its broader applications. Make this reflection and consolidation activity a consistent part of your weekly preparation; it’s an investment that will pay off in the long run!
Why Reflection Aids Learning and Retention Many benefits result from reflection. In truth, reflection encourages a better learning experience because:
(1) it encourages learners to take charge of their learning; reflection invites them to become more engaged in their learning accomplishments and struggles;
(2) it builds stronger connections between learning experiences; reflective learning fosters learning-by-thinking, which can help learners develop critical thinking skills and improve their future performance.
John Dewey, an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer, was a highly influential figure in the field of education, particularly for his emphasis on learning by doing and experiential learning.
Dewey’s quote: “We do not learn from experience. We learn from reflecting on the experience” highlights the importance of reflecting on experiences to gain true learning. Just going through something isn’t enough. We need to take time to analyze, understand, and draw meaning from those experiences to solidify our learning and apply it to future situations.
Dewey believed this reflection was a crucial part of the learning process. By actively thinking about our experiences, we can identify patterns, solve problems, and develop new knowledge. This reflective approach is still a cornerstone of many educational philosophies today.
In his research, Chang (2019) found that reflection-in-learning is necessary for learners to revisit what they have learned for improvement and for in-depth learning. It gives students an opportunity to document their learning journey and provide references and suggestions for future student
Through reflection, learners become accomplished at recognizing that they are learning and building skills continuously” (Helyer, 2015, p. 23).
Make reflection a high priority in your board preparation to encourage a superior learning experience.
“No one is born with skill. It is developed through exercise, repetition, and a blend of learning and reflection that’s both painful and rewarding. And it takes time.”–Twyla Tharp
Visualization is a powerful tool for learning, engaging your brain in a way that can spark deeper understanding and memory retention. But visualization isn’t just about seeing–it’s about engaging all your senses. Visualization offers a multisensory feast, engaging not just the eyes but also the mind and body.
Here are 3 learning strategies based on visualization:
1. CONCEPT MAPPING: This strategy involves creating a visual representation of relationships between ideas or concepts. You can use diagrams, flowcharts, or mind maps to show how things connect to each other. This can be helpful for understanding complex topics and identifying key relationships.
2. VISUAL NOTE-TAKING: Instead of taking traditional linear notes, try drawing what you’re learning. This could include using diagrams, sketches, or even doodles to represent key ideas. Visual note-taking can help you to focus on the most important information and remember it better than traditional note-taking methods.
3. MENTAL IMAGERY: This strategy involves using your imagination to create mental pictures of what you’re learning. This can be helpful for remembering details, understanding processes, and making connections between different ideas. For example, if you’re trying to learn about the water cycle, you might imagine water evaporating from the ocean, rising into the clouds, and then falling back to earth as rain.
There are many other ways to use visual aids to improve your learning. Experiment with different techniques to find what works best for you.
Here are some additional tips for using visualization for learning:
Use colors and shapes to highlight important information.
Keep your visuals simple and clear.
Label your visuals so that you can easily understand them later.
Review your visuals regularly to reinforce your learning.
Overall, visualization can be a valuable tool for many learners, but it’s not a universal magic bullet. The effectiveness depends on individual learning styles, the complexity of the material, and the quality of the visualization itself.
Here are some additional tips for using visualization effectively:
START SIMPLE: Begin with basic visualizations and gradually increase complexity as you get comfortable.
MAKE IT PERSONAL: Use imagery that is meaningful and relevant to you.
ENGAGE MULTIPLE SENSES: Combine visual imagery with other sensory details, such as sounds or textures.
PRACTICE REGULARLY: The more you use visualization, the better you’ll become at it.
Visualization as a learning tool has its strengths and limitations, and its effectiveness can vary depending on individual learning styles and preferences. Here’s a breakdown:
Strengths:
Enhances understanding: Visualizing concepts can make them more concrete and easier to grasp, especially for abstract or complex topics.
Improves memory: Creating mental imagery can strengthen neural connections, leading to better recall and retention of information.
Boosts engagement: Visualization can make learning more active and immersive, increasing motivation and focus.
Limitations:
Individual differences: Not everyone learns best visually. Some learners may prefer auditory, kinesthetic, or other learning modalities.
Requires effort: Effective visualization takes practice and concentration. It’s not a passive learning strategy.
Dependence on prior knowledge: Building mental models requires some understanding of the underlying concepts first.
Remember, the best learning approach is often a combination of different strategies. Experiment with different techniques and find what works best for you!
Visualization isn’t a magic wand, but it’s a powerful tool in your successful learning arsenal. It clarifies your vision, ignites your motivation, and trains your mind for victory. So, close your eyes, paint your dream onto the canvas of your imagination, and step into the future you desire. Remember, seeing is believing, and believing is achieving.
Start visualizing your goals today and watch your journey to success unfold with newfound clarity, motivation, and an unshakeable belief in yourself. Remember, the future is yours to craft, and the first step is seeing it vividly before your mind’s eye. So, see it, believe it, and achieve it!
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Linda L. Carr, Ph.D., Founder/Principal at Coaching for Medical Specialty Boards, is a medical educator and learning specialist who coaches physicians preparing for specialty boards through virtual, one-on-one coaching. Visit www.DrLindaCarr.org to learn more about Linda and her program, her clients’ success, and download her FREE Study Guide.
You can do several things before you begin to read a journal article or a textbook that can increase your reading comprehension. Using this strategic approach for reading may take a little longer, but it will be well worth your time. Here are ten suggestions to optimize your learning while you read:
1. Look at the objectives and/or the headings and ask yourself what you know about that content.
2. Reflect on your prior knowledge … what do you already know about these topics? What do you not know? Spend time here … don’t rush.
3. Look at the tables … what does each tell you? Read the captions. What questions do you have?
4. Look at the figures… what do they tell you?
5. Connect the informationbetween the tables, figures, and diagrams. What do they tell you? Tie the tables, figures, and diagrams back to the text.
6. Go to the end of the article (or textbook) and answer the quiz questions (if there are any). Cover the answers, guess what the distractors might be. Identify your learning issues.
7. Ask yourself what’s missing – what is NOT in the material? Then, read the article (or book).
8. Close the article (or book).
9. Make a mind-map (or concept map) of all you remember. DO NOT REFER TO THE ARTICLE. Keep forcing yourself to use alternative memory techniques (visualization, photos, graphs, personal associations).
10. Checkthrough the material and fill in important information that you missed (use a different color of ink). Then, do another mind-map, from memory.
You can improve your reading comprehension by experimenting with these ten suggestions. If you practice reading in this step-by-step manner and make it a habit, your learning will be more meaningful and remembered longer. This method can definitely help make the content “stick”, and that’s the result we need.
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Linda L. Carr, Ph.D., Founder/Principal at Coaching for Medical Specialty Boards, is a medical educator and learning specialist who coaches physicians preparing for specialty boards through virtual, one-on-one coaching. Visit www.DrLindaCarr.org to learn more about her program and download her FREE Study Guide.
Have you ever wondered what physicians with the highest board scores do differently when they study?
Physicians with high-pass scores have developed effective ways of learning and have mastered a skill called metacognition–learn what it is and how you can use it to your advantage on medical board exams.
Many physicians spend most of their time reading to prepare for their medical boards. The assumption is that they can pass their boards if they read the material enough times. While repetitively reviewing content does help us learn, there are deeper learning strategies that help us remember content when we study.
Other physicians rely on question banks to prepare for their boards. With this method, you can more easily discover what you know and don’t know. You can also learn a lot by studying the question item distractors, and testing helps identify learning gaps, which call for further study.
A more desirable approach to preparing for medical boards is to use a combination of self-testing and reading. However, the order in which you do these tasks is important. You should test first, then study your learning gaps (questions you missed or don’t thoroughly understand). This may be counterintuitive, but it saves time and energy and is more efficient and effective.
But what else can physicians do to maximize their learning and retention when high-stakes exams are in the future?
METACOGNITION MAKES LEARNING VISIBLE
As stated, metacognition is understanding your own thinking and learning processes. Metacognitive skills include planning your learning, monitoring whether your current learning strategies are successful, and evaluating the results of your learning. Both content knowledge and metacognitive skills are essential for effective learning. Research shows that improving your metacognitive skills is associated with increased academic performance.
Weak learners tend to have underdeveloped metacognitive skills, leading to overconfidence in understanding the material. Weak learners may passively highlight a passage of a review book and believe that the highlighting means they will remember the content. They may also need to pay more attention to their time to study and review complex concepts.
On the other hand, stronger learners are more self-aware and recognize when they don’t know the material. They ensure they return to it and review it in various ways, using effective learning strategies.
Over the last three decades, learning science has identified specific strategies to help learners develop an awareness of their thinking processes as they learn. These techniques allow them to focus with greater intention, reflect on their existing knowledge versus information they still need to know, recognize errors in their thinking, and develop practices for effective learning. These strategies are called METACOGITIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES—practically speaking, it’s how people learn.
WHAT LEARNING STRATEGIES ARE INVOLVED IN METACOGNITION?
Metacognitive strategies help learners analyze the material they’re studying, reflect on their learning, and direct their work. Examples include:
Self-questioning –before you study a specific topic, ask yourself what you know about it already, what questions you have, and what you hope to learn—this provides a context and a framework for new knowledge; it also involves pausing throughout a task to check your thoughts and actions consciously; self-questioning is critical to effective learning.
Testing yourself (or retrieval practice) –self-testing requires more mental effort than rereading. It helps move knowledge from short-term to long-term memory and helps you remember up to 50% more than you would with re-reading alone; other methods include practice tests and flashcards—methods that ask you to assess your knowledge and check if it’s correct.
Reflection – research has shown that reflecting on what we do (and do not) know, what we need to learn, and the most appropriate learning approach to use; can occur during or following a task; it can reduce anxiety and stress levels while boosting our results.
Thinking Aloud – talk through your material; this encourages learners to reflect on what they are doing, think about how well they are doing it, and identify any areas that could be improved; learners can be proactive about identifying problems and correcting them.
Taking Notes from Memory – engage actively with the reading material by pausing periodically to summarize what you read from memory; this strengthens your recall, which increases your chances of remembering and understanding the material.
Graphic Organizers – create concept maps or graphic organizers to visualize material and see the connections between various concepts; words and images constitute dual coding, which strengthens neural connections in the brain.
Active Reading Strategies – good readers make connections to prior knowledge and make inferences and predictions, which require constant attention and a questioning mindset.
Figuring out how you learn – to better understand what learning strategies work best for you, make an appointment with an academic coach to reflect on what you have been doing and figuring out what works best for you.
Spaced repetition – an effective study plan spaces out your information strategically to secure knowledge into your long-term memory; without reinforcement, studied information will decay exponentially; follow-up your study by self-testing a few days later using practice tests or flashcards.
Interleaving practice – mix up related topics as opposed to studying them in a blocked fashion; mix up your flashcards, question bank exercises, and review topics by grouping things into clusters of topics; commonalities and differences across topics will appear through interleaving practice.
3 WAYS TO INTEGRATE METACOGNITION IN BOARD REVIEW
Changing one’s approach to board preparation is not easy. Still, the effort can be worth it when you realize the benefits—greater comprehension and retention of material and improved medical board scores.
Metacognition is gaining attention in the medical education research community. However, studies show that the use of metacognition among medical learners varies greatly and that few learners are explicitly taught metacognitive skills. Put simply, there are three steps for applying metacognition: planning, monitoring, and assessing.
PLANNING
Planning sets the stage for effective learning. Ask yourself: “What do I already know about this topic?” “How will I prepare to study it—what learning strategies will I use?” “How much time will I need?” Set learning goals with a timeline. The online board exam blueprint and the content outline can serve as a guide. Rather than start reading a review book, take a quiz to determine what you know/don’t know about this topic. Review the missed questions—make flashcards or a concept map to aid your learning. Retest on questions you missed in two to three days. Continue to review your learning gaps using a variety of learning strategies (listed above).
MONITORING
As you study, frequently stop and ask yourself: “Am I on the right track?” “Do I understand the material (i.e., can I explain it in detail from memory)? Reading content repeatedly gives the illusion that we know the material, but only when we test ourselves do we know for sure. Thinking aloud can help identify your learning gaps.
ASSESSING
At the end of your study, ask: “How confident am I that I understand the material?” “What went well?” “What obstacles did I encounter, and how did I/can I work through them?” “What was easiest for me to learn?” Why?” “What was most challenging for me to learn?” “Why?” “What will I do differently tomorrow?”
Medical boards are cognitive marathons. Achievement on board exams extends beyond cognitive skills; it also requires managing one’s thinking. Metacognition fosters excellence in learning because active learning strategies are robust, easily accessible, and broadly applicable. As medical knowledge continues to expand, metacognition is increasingly recognized as an essential skill for doctors to develop to enable them to identify their own learning needs and expand their academic potential.
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Linda L. Carr, Ph.D., Founder/Principal at Coaching for Medical Specialty Boards, is a medical educator and learning specialist who coaches physicians preparing for specialty boards through virtual, one-on-one coaching. Visit www.DrLindaCarr.org to learn more about her program and download her FREE Study Guide.
Learning is a multi-step process of increasing cognitive complexity. This information is useful to know because questions used on national boards generally require higher-level reasoning. Bloom’s Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, revised by Anderson and Krathwohl in 2001, includes six categories, beginning with the simplest level (REMEMBER) and concluding with the sixth and most complex level (CREATE). As you study for your boards, stretch your learning to include higher level thinking (i.e., analyzing, evaluating, and creating). Here’s what you need to know about the six “levels” of learning:
1. Level 1 – REMEMBER. Learners are able to recall a wide range of previously learned material from specific facts to complete theories. But, this level merely requires bringing to mind the appropriate information. Sample verbs include: label, list, choose, read, recall, record, relate, review, select, write.
2. Level 2 – UNDERSTAND. Learners demonstrate their understanding of material by explaining ideas or concepts or interpreting and translating what has been learned. Sample verbs include: define, describe, discuss, explain, interpret, classify, translate.
3. Level 3 – APPLY. Learners apply their knowledge by using it in another familiar situation from the one in which it was learned. The application may include rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, and theories. Sample verbs include: adapt, apply, change, compute, construct, generalize, interpret, illustrate, make, show, solve.
4. Level 4 – ANALYZE (critical thinking). Learners analyze when they break information into parts to explore understandings and relationships in an attempt to identify evidence for a conclusion. Sample verbs include: analyze, distinguish, deduce, compare, contrast, infer, deconstruct, differentiate, calculate.
5. Level 5 – EVALUATE (critical thinking). Learners evaluate when they use in-depth reflection, criticism and assessment to justify a decision or course of action. Sample verbs include: appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, conclude, criticize, critique, debate, determine, differentiate, discriminate, evaluate, infer, judge, justify, measure, recommend, validate.
6. Level 6 – CREATE (critical thinking). Learners create when they generate new ideas, products, or ways of viewing things. Sample verbs include: act, assemble, combine, compose, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, generate, hypothesize, imagine, predict, plan, prepare, produce.
Because questions used on national boards rely on critical thinking, make sure that you include the full spectrum of learning that includes taxonomy levels 4 through 6. When you think actively about the material (using critical thinking), you process the ideas more thoroughly and construct extensive cognitive networks connecting new ideas together and linking them to what you already know.
Remember that you do not learn much just by reading, memorizing, and recalling material. You must “activate” your learning by talking about it, writing about it, relating it to past experiences, applying it to your daily life–in short, making it part of yourself.
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Linda L. Carr, Ph.D., Founder/Principal at Coaching for Medical Specialty Boards, is a medical educator and learning specialist who coaches physicians preparing for specialty boards through virtual, one-on-one coaching. Visit www.DrLindaCarr.org to learn more about her program and download her FREE Study Guide.
