Using clinical history taking chatbot mobile app for clinical bedside teachings – A prospective case control study()

INTRODUCTION: A novel chatbot mobile app for training of undergraduate medical students’ clinical history taking skills was developed in 2021. Students were able to take clinical history from the virtual patient for bedside teaching. A case-control study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of learning with chatbot mobile app, versus conventional bedside teachings with real patients. METHODS: 132 final year medical students were randomized into two groups – Conventional bedside teaching with clinical history taken from a real patient, and Bedside teaching with clinical history taken from the Chatbot. Independent blinded assessment of students' history taking skills was conducted. Students’ performance were assessed by standardized marking scheme. RESULTS: Median age was 23 years old (Range 21–30 years old). There were 62 female and 70 male students. 64 students were randomized into conventional group while 68 students were randomized into the chatbot group. Baseline demographic data were comparable between the two groups. Blinded assessment of students’ performance in clinical history taking were comparable between the conventional group and chatbot group (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: With the promising results we have demonstrated in this study, we believe training of history taking skills by chatbot will be a feasible alternative to conventional bedside teaching.