AI in Medicine for students

AI for Curious Medical Minds 💡

Explore how AI can support your studies, clinical thinking, and communication. Learn how to ask the right questions — and think critically about the answers

Start here 👇

📘 Quick Start Guide

New to AI?

Start with this PDF handout “The Basics of AI: A Medical Student’s Primer”

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AI isn’t here to replace thinking. It’s here to help you think better 🦉

👉 How to Use AI (Responsibly) in Medical School

What’s New with ChatGPT-5

GPT-5 brings important updates that make it easier, smarter, and more useful for your studies. Here are the key changes you should know:

🧠 1. Smarter Thinking Mode

Decides when to use quick vs. deep reasoning
No need to write “step-by-step”

📚 2. Much Larger Context

Handles up to 400k tokens
Paste entire guidelines or slide packs
Ask it to cite by page/slide

📊 3. Better Structured Outputs

Directly create tables, lists, JSON
Cleaner results for differentials/tests

✍️ 4. Simpler Prompting

Reasoning tasks → ask for key assumptions
Direct tasks → just ask plainly

⚡ 5. Prompt Optimizer

Tool for upgrading old GPT-4 prompts
Tighter, more effective instructions

🌟 6. Style Defaults

Warmer, clearer tone by default
Less need for “be friendly/concise”

✨ In short: GPT-5 is better at knowing when to think deeply, can handle huge amounts of text, gives cleaner structured outputs, and requires simpler prompting.

✨ Bottom line: GPT-5 = deeper thinking, bigger memory, cleaner outputs, easier prompts.

How to Prompt GPT-5 (Responsibly) in Medical School

Before you start

AI responses can vary depending on how you phrase your prompt. Small changes in wording often lead to very different explanations, levels of detail, or even teaching styles. This exercise will help you see how prompt design shapes the quality and usefulness of AI output.

Prompt 1: “Explain pancytopenia.”

Prompt 2: “You are a hematology tutor. Explain pancytopenia for 2nd-year medical students in ≤150 words. Focus on causes from bone marrow failure vs peripheral destruction. End with 3 self-test questions.”

👉 Compare outputs and reflect: Which is clearer? Which is more useful for your level? What might you change in the prompt to improve it further?

Anatomy of a Good Prompt

Formula: WHO + WHAT + CONTEXT + FORMAT + DEPTH

Click here for Open AI GPT5 prompt optimizer

Click here for Prompt maker by Ruben Hassid

🙈🙉Creating Medical Flashcards with AI: The Complete Guide

Transform Hours of Manual Card Creation into Minutes of Smart, Automated Learning

Stop Wasting Hours Creating Flashcards Manually

Are you spending more time creating study materials than actually studying them? If you're a medical student drowning in textbooks and struggling to create effective flashcards, this comprehensive guide will revolutionize your approach to medical education.

In just 30 minutes, you'll be generating hundreds of high-quality medical flashcards that would have taken you hours to create manually.

Οδηγός δημιουργίας flash cards στα ελληνικά

Creating Medical Flashcards with AI english version

💻 Free courses

AI Fluency for Students by Anthropic - This course teaches students how to collaborate with AI effectively, efficiently, ethically, and safely across learning and career contexts.

Recommended prerequisites: This course lightly covers the foundational AI Fluency concepts. However, for deeper understanding, participants should complete AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations before beginning this student-focused curriculum. It is also recommended that learners have access to an AI chat tool for hands-on practice. Examples in this course will use Claude.ai, but any chatbot will work.

💬 Prompt Bank

Use these AI prompts to jumpstart your thinking but your clinical judgment shapes the final answer.

🧠 Study Support

Build a 2-week revision plan for hematology with daily focus topics.
Explain the coagulation cascade in ≤200 words for a 2nd-year medical student. Use a step-by-step flow
Summarize the differences between AML and ALL in a comparison table with at least 3 key features.
“Teach me the CRAB criteria for multiple myeloma using an easy-to-remember mnemonic
Create 5 multiple-choice questions on iron deficiency anemia with answers and short explanations.”
“Make a 10-question true/false quiz on the pathophysiology of CLL.”
“Give me 3 short clinical vignettes on thrombocytopenia with the most likely diagnosis.”
Test me on coagulation pathways using flashcard-style questions
Generate a list of common exam questions on acute leukemia.

🔬 Clinical Thinking

Give me 3 possible differential diagnoses for isolated thrombocytopenia. Rank them by likelihood in a 25-year-old patient. Explain your reasoning
You are a hematology tutor. I will give you lab results — CBC: Hb 8 g/dL, WBC 3,200/µL, Platelets 90,000/µL. Suggest next diagnostic steps, and explain why
I read this sentence: ‘Anemia in CLL is often autoimmune.’ Critically evaluate this statement and explain in ≤100 words when it is true and when it is misleading
Help me generate a differential for lymphadenopathy
- Follow-up: "Ask me questions to refine the differential."
What questions should I ask in a history for unexplained anemia?
Act as a tutor: quiz me on causes of leukocytosis

📝 Communication & Empathy

Act as a patient’s spouse asking: ‘Is this leukemia my partner’s fault?’ Help me practice a compassionate, professional response.
Simulate a parent who asks why their child needs a bone marrow biopsy. Give emotional as well as rational concerns for me to address
Role-play as a patient who refuses chemotherapy because of fear of side effects. I will practice responding with empathy.
How would you explain 'acute leukemia' in plain Greek for a patient handout (≤120 words). Add 3 FAQs with one-sentence answers. If uncertain, state the uncertainty and what information would reduce it.”
Translate this discharge summary into plain English.
Write a short script to explain 'cytopenia' to a patient's caregiver.
Summarize the side effects of [chemotherapy] for a patient leaflet.

🧰 Prompt Toolkit for Doctors

By Dr. Eleftheria Hatzimichael

This toolkit is designed to help medical students and physicians make the most of Artificial Intelligence tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. It provides ready-to-use prompts across clinical practice, research, education, and personal development—empowering healthcare professionals to ask better questions, think critically, and save time.

With over 60 curated use cases, the toolkit covers:

📖 Clinical Practice: generating differential diagnoses, drafting patient education materials, summarizing guidelines.
🔬 Research: literature reviews, clinical trial design brainstorming, data interpretation.
🎓 Education: teaching aids, quiz generation, role-playing with virtual patients.
🌱 Well-being & Growth: reflective writing, leadership development, mindfulness practices.

This resource encourages responsible and ethical use of AI in medicine, aligning with academic integrity and patient privacy standards.

👉 Download the toolkit and start experimenting with prompts to see how AI can enhance your professional and personal journey.

DOWNLOAD Full Prompt Toolkit for Medical Students ChatGPT 4o

🩺 Clinical Case scenario 1

Isolated Thrombocytosis

🧾 Case Data

CBC: Platelets 950,000/μL, Hb 14.2 g/dL, WBC 7,800/μL
CRP: Elevated
Recent hx: Nephrectomy for RCC 2 months ago
JAK2 mutation: Pending
Peripheral smear: Platelets appear large, some clumping
No symptoms

🧠 Step 1: AI Differential Prompt

Prompt:
“You are a hematologist. A patient presents with isolated thrombocytosis. Please give a structured differential diagnosis (reactive vs clonal), ranked by likelihood based on available data.”

🧪 Step 2: AI Diagnostic Plan Prompt

Prompt:
“What tests should be performed to differentiate reactive from primary thrombocytosis? Include genetic and inflammatory workup.”

❓ Step 3: Uncertainty Prompt

Prompt:
“What further data or results (labs, history, or genetic tests) would shift the differential toward a myeloproliferative neoplasm?

📂 Case A: New Pancytopenia

Data given:
CBC values, blood smear image (or description), marrow summary, cytogenetics snippet.

🧠 Step 1: Initial Prompt

Prompt:
"You are a hematologist. Based on the following case summary, generate a differential diagnosis for pancytopenia. Present it in structured bullet points ranked by likelihood. Use only the data provided."

→ Output: AI-generated differential with reasoning.

🧪 Step 2: Diagnostic Strategy

Prompt:
"What tests would you recommend next and why? Explain the diagnostic reasoning behind the testing sequence."

→ Output: Suggested testing steps and rationale.

❓ Step 3: Uncertainty Prompt

Prompt:
"What additional missing data would most influence your top diagnostic choice, and how?"

→ Output: Statement of diagnostic uncertainty and next steps.

🩺 Clinical Case scenario 2

Isolated Thrombocytopenia

🧾 Case Data (Given to Students)

CBC: Platelets 28,000/μL, Hb 13.6 g/dL, WBC 6,100/μL
Peripheral smear: Large platelets, no schistocytes
Recent history: Viral illness 2 weeks ago
Medications: Ibuprofen for 5 days
No bleeding symptoms

🧠 Step 1: AI Differential Prompt

Prompt:
“You are a hematologist. Based on this case of isolated thrombocytopenia with normal hemoglobin and WBCs, provide a differential diagnosis in structured bullet points, ranked by likelihood. Consider morphology and history.”

🧪 Step 2: AI Diagnostic Plan Prompt

Prompt:
“What initial diagnostic tests should be ordered and why? Justify each based on the suspected diagnoses.”

❓ Step 3: Uncertainty Prompt

Prompt:
“What data would be most helpful in refining your top diagnostic suspicion? How would your interpretation change with those results?”

JSON prompting

Get Organized AI Responses Every Time

Stop wasting time with messy ChatGPT answers. This free guide teaches you JSON prompting - the simple formatting technique that gets you structured, study-ready responses for any medical topic.

Perfect for creating:

Organized patient case studies
Structured differential diagnoses
Consistent flashcards and study guides
Professional-quality notes

Download Free Guide

Completely beginner-friendly. No technical skills required.

Tools & Templates

AI Tools for Medical Students (PDF)

⚖️ Ethical Use of AI: What Students Should Know

Knowledge becomes meaningful when it returns to people

Page curated by: Eleftheria Hatzimichael, MD, PhD

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