Curricular analisis of medical degree programs in Mexico: Humanism and artificial intelligence

Abstract

Introduction: Edmund D. Pellegrino (1920-2013) emphasized the need for humanities in medical education, which are essential for medical wisdom. Given the progress of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, experts have predicted that AI will replace 80% of medical work today, starting with diagnosis. Therefore, the training of future doctors must include technical, computational, engineering, and humanistic skills.

Research question: What quantity and categories of humanistic subjects are derived from the curriculum maps (MCs) of medical education approved by regulatory institutions in Mexico?

Objective: To analyze, using statistical and hermeneutic methods, the quantity and qualities of humanistic subjects in MCs of medical education approved by accrediting institutions in Mexico, AMFEM, COMAEM and COPAES, in order to describe the importance that medical schools (FEM) give to the development of humanistic skills, currently essential for medical practice in the face of changes introduced by AI in medicine. This exploratory, observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was conducted using a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative) of electronic MCs retrieved from the internet and published by medical schools.

Results: 63 MCs from medical schools with accredited programs by AMFEM, COMAEM and COPAES were analyzed. Of these, 30 (48%) were private medical schools and 33 (52%) were public. The range of subjects contained in them was from 48 to 111, and the range of medical humanities (MH) was from 3 to 33. Using the Shapiro-Wilk test, an abnormal distribution was obtained, with a median of 12 for both groups.

Conclusions: A low presence of MH subjects was observed, limited to Human Sciences, while Humanistic Disciplines and Art are relegated in medical education.