Medical students’ perceptions of AI-based feedback and feedforward on communication skills in doctor–patient consultation - an acceptance study in a video-based simulation

Feedback and feedforward are highly relevant in promoting students' learning. With advances in artificial intelligence (AI), new opportunities to support feedback and feedforward are emerging. However, few studies have explored how medical students perceive and accept AI-based feedback and feedforward in medical communication training. In this study, we explored medical students' perceptions of AI-based and avatar-mediated feedback and feedforward in a simulation applying a doctor-patient consultation video. The participants comprised 82 medical students (56.1% female), 66 of whom were in their second semester and 16 in their fourth semester. Before participants saw a video of a medical student in a standardized pre-recorded consultation, they were asked to put themselves in the position of the peer shown. A human-like avatar subsequently provided AI-based feedback and feedforward for the medical student in the video. The participants-still taking on the shown medical student's role-were then asked to rate the perceived trustworthiness and their potential learning acceptance of the AI-based feedback and feedforward. The participants' ratings of trustworthiness and potential learning acceptance were higher for the AI-based, avatar-mediated feedforward than the feedback. Additionally, they reported a generally positive attitude toward AI. This attitude was positively correlated with a higher potential learning acceptance of feedback. The tendency to favor feedforward over feedback in interpersonal contexts-as described in the literature-was evident for the perception of the AI-based, avatar-mediated evaluations of a simulated doctor-patient consultation video. Future research could apply these insights to enhance AI-based learning in medical education, e.g. by providing students with AI-based feedforward on their own consultation videos and assessing their perceptions of the same.