Impact of a Practical, Hands-On, Continuing Professional Development Course About AI in Health Care Professions Education on the Perceptions and Behaviors of Health Care Educators: Qualitative Case Study

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly being used in many aspects of society, including health care and education. AI has the potential to enhance health care delivery, education, and administration. Health care trainees will be required to master these AI technologies. To teach trainees to effectively and ethically leverage AI technologies, educators must be appropriately trained and empowered to use these technologies. Objective: We developed a health professions education course to enable health care professionals to overcome their fears and concerns about integrating multimodal generative AI technologies in daily practice. The course was also designed to foster generative AI skills and confidence in educational, administrative, research, and clinical activities. Methods: Using a multimethod approach, we analyzed data gathered from three different sources using the 6-phase reflexive thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke. This involved familiarization with the data sources, generating initial codes, developing, refining, and defining the themes, and finally, writing up the results. Results: Our findings indicate that 16 of 21 (76%) learners initially described apprehension or fear toward AI technologies. After experiential engagement with AI technologies together with their peers, they were able to shift their perspectives and gain confidence to integrate AI tools in their daily practice. Conclusions: A brief 6-week continuing professional development course on the use of AI technologies for health care professional educators, focused on experiential and peer-based learning, resulted in shifts in perception, affect, and behavior toward AI technologies. It also propelled learners to shift increasingly outward in their discussion, application, and preliminary advocacy for AI technologies in their daily practice.