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Medical Students' Attitudes, Perceptions, and Self-Reported Familiarity With Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare: A
Wei Zhang1, Jiaxue Han1, Xin Han2
1Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Department of Urology, Institute of Urology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, No. 37 Guoxue Alley, Wuhou District, Chengdu City 610041, Sichuan, China., Chengdu, CN.
JMIR Medical Education
|July 20, 2026
Summary
Medical students show generally positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence (AI) and its integration into their education. However, the certainty of these findings is low, suggesting a need for local planning and standardized measurement.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Artificial Intelligence
- Health Professions
Background:
- Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly integrated into clinical practice and medical education.
- Existing assessments of medical students' AI perceptions use varied methods, hindering consistent analysis.
- Previous reviews often combined diverse health professions or lacked detailed heterogeneity reporting.
Purpose of the Study:
- Synthesize quantitative evidence on medical students' attitudes, perceptions, and familiarity with AI.
- Examine construct harmonization, participant independence, heterogeneity, and certainty of evidence.
- Provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of AI in medical education.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a systematic meta-analysis of 96 cross-sectional studies (>45,000 medical students) from 37 countries.
- Harmonized proportion outcomes across 9 domains using random-effects meta-analysis.
- Assessed risk of bias using JBI checklist and certainty of evidence with GRADE.
Main Results:
- Favorable attitudes toward AI (76.9%) and perceived career benefits (78.4%) were reported.
- Support for AI curricular integration was high (76.6%), with willingness to learn (71.5%).
- Concerns about physician replacement (39.9%) and ethical issues (62.8%) were noted; self-reported familiarity was 63.3%.
Conclusions:
- Medical students' AI attitudes and interest in curriculum integration are broadly positive.
- Summary estimates have very low certainty due to study design and measurement heterogeneity.
- Findings support exploratory AI literacy planning and standardized measurement rather than curriculum effectiveness claims.
