Using AI as a patient will empower you. As a doctor I encourage you to use it.

We’ve all had that conversation with a friend, “My doctor just ‘googles’ my symptoms”.

The fact is, we’ve been googling for years.

But Google, and the Internet is vital for our practice. I think it’s given that the Internet is a vital necessity for practices to run.

In the day to day consultation it’s a source of information for ourselves and patients, it helps us to find the locations of services to support you.

This article is about how you can better use AI to support your own health.

But I will also give you an honest look at how doctors like me are already using it, so that if you ever sit across from me in the consulting room, you will understand what is happening and why.

Google images helps me explain diagnoses and match up unexplained rashes that 3 previous doctors haven’t been able to treat effectively.

It helps me identify the anatomy of tiny muscles and tendons that I can’t remember the name of, but are likely to be contributing to patient’s symptoms.

Ultimately it helps me to explain to patients what’s going on in their body.

I’m a doctor that uses Google and now AI. I’m proud of it.

Because it allows me to better serve my patients and increase my productivity.

Would you rather a you, your doctor, AI and google working together, or just you and the doc? Just imagine your consultations if your doctor refused to use the Internet or search engines.

Is it acceptable that your doctor uses AI?

I think of this in the same way I think about any expert using tools to improve the quality of their work.

For example lawyers are using AI to improve their workflows, maximise productivity and enhance the quality of their output.

Ultimately this is to deliver better service for clients.

Across virtually every job and even in people's personal lives, AI is being used in meaningful ways.

If you haven’t used AI to ask about a problem you have, why not?

It stands to reason that medicine would want to do the same.

If AI can improve the quality of medical care, then surely that is something the profession should embrace.

For the most part, the profession is. I do worry about the doctors that refuse to use it.

As the technological progression marches forward, it won’t wait for those not using it now, and they will be left behind without these extra tools.

Comparatively they will have less options to support you with diagnosis and treatment.

How I Using AI in the consulting room

When patients first come to see me, I explain that I use AI for live transcription during consultations.

So far, not a single patient has objected. In fact, most see the benefits immediately.

Better notes and better attention.

AI has significantly improved the quality of my note-taking, the transfer of care between doctors within the clinic, and letters I send to patients and specialists.

I am not spending less time with patients.

What I am doing is improving the quality of the information I capture and the attention I can give in the room.

By not typing at a screen, I can actually look at the person in front of me and listen, rather than divide my focus.

My ability to multitask is awful and makes me prone to mistakes. This way I let the AI take away some of the work that isn’t directly giving medical care.

It listens better than I do.

Before saving the AI notes I review them. Occasionally I capture something a patient said that I had not fully registered at the time.

It is a good reminder that even when we believe we are listening carefully, we miss things.

AI is helping close that gap.

AI is an aid to diagnosis.

Occasionally, after arranging investigations for a patient, I will cross-check my thinking using specific clinical software built for health professionals.

For example, I can check if I have missed out key information, or if I have considered all the relevant differential diagnoses.

It widens my scope and helps me identify blind spots I might otherwise miss.

It helps me to interpret & translate results.

Results are rarely black and white. We are looking at patterns, ruling conditions in and out, and piecing together a picture over time.

AI helps to find blind spots.

It’s not a replacement, but an added perspective in the consulting room.

For patients it translates complex findings into plain language.

Medicine has its own language, and AI can reframe it in accessible terms far more quickly than I can do it on the spot.

AI creates my personalised patient information leaflets.

Drawing on the specific information from a consultation combined with the broader evidence base, AI helps me produce clearer, more tailored written material for patients to take away.

There are drawbacks.

My ability to write notes longhand is not as sharp as it once was.

Last week my transcription tool went offline for about 20 minutes. Writing notes manually in that window took longer and the quality was noticeably less.

And my ability to do this as efficiently compared to before I was using AI transcription was significantly reduced.

Writing notes has been a core doctor skill, but only because we need to do it all the time.

Doctors are not here to type notes and sit behind computers.

We are here to treat patients.

If tools exist that make that job more effective, we should be using them.

My concern is that many doctors are resisting AI entirely, and in doing so, their productivity is falling and they risk being left behind.

How you can use AI as a patient

Information gathering

If you have symptoms you can’t make sense of, AI can be a valuable sounding board.

Describe what you are experiencing and ask what might be going on. The key is ensure that the AI has its doctor thinking hat on.

Ask it to consider its role as a medical professional or doctor.

Ask it questions as if you were consulting a knowledgeable colleague, not just typing in search terms.

This will make some people feel uncomfortable.

What about the risk to patients?

You are not replacing your doctor. You are not seeking a sense of security or answer from AI.

You’re using it to better empower you with information and consideration of what might be going on, rather than an absolute diagnosis and treatment plan.

Some people will be uncomfortable hearing a doctor say "use AI like a doctor."

I want to be clear: I am not suggesting you replace doctors.

I am encouraging you to broaden your understanding of your own symptoms, expand your awareness of what might be happening, and go into consultations better informed.

That is empowerment, not a substitute for professional care.

Prepare for your appointment

The second use is preparing for your consultation.

Ask AI what questions you should be raising with your GP.

What is important to know about your condition? What should you be asking?

Going in with those questions means you will get more from the appointment.

Understanding your results

When you receive results, you can ask AI to help you make sense of them.

A word of caution: be mindful of your own patient-identifiable information when inputting anything into AI tools, and check that the platform you are using handles data safely.

In general, asking "does this result make sense?" or "is this consistent with what my doctor told me?" can be a useful way to consolidate your understanding.

Translate the advice into plain language.

When you have been given information or are sitting with concerns you cannot quite articulate, AI can help you find the language for it.

It can take the medical terminology and reframe it in a way that makes sense to you.

What’s the point of the doctor?

if AI can do all of this, why do I need a doctor at all?

AI at this moment, ensure that you receive the right investigations.

It cannot physically examine you, though I suspect that will change in the not too distant future.

It currently cannot take responsibility for clinical decisions or provide you with medicines.

And it cannot hold professional accountability for the care it gives.

The AI-using doctor is an upgraded doctor

The role of the doctor is not going away.

There is a great deal that doctors do that AI will not be able to replicate for a very long time.

Doctors not using AI are massaging their egos.

What AI is doing is upgrading our ability to provide better care: sharper information transfer, clearer communication, more thorough thinking, and more empowered patients.

We are using it to improve the quality of care we deliver, not to replace our clinical judgment.

If you are using it yourself, you are doing exactly what a well-informed patient should be doing.