Jia, Zilin; Dai, David Wei; Aryadoust, Vahid; Zhu, Hua; (2025) Healthcare communication education in the age of generative artificial intelligence: A systematic review. Presented at: British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) Annual Conference 2025, Glasgow, UK.

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Abstract

Healthcare communication education has received growing attention, due to the recognition of its important role in delivering high-quality patient care and in shaping the professional development of healthcare practitioners. However, its implementation remains challenging because of the substantial time and institutional resources required to create authentic clinical scenarios and to provide feedback tailored to diverse patient profiles and learner needs (Dai et al., 2024; Motola et al., 2013). Recent years have seen the use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools to support the training of healthcare professionals, bringing both new possibilities and challenges. To map the current state of research on GenAI-facilitated healthcare communication training, we conducted a systematic review across eight databases, consisting of Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, Eric, PubMed, PsycINFO, EMBASE, and CINEHL, covering the disciplines of communication, education and healthcare. Using an inductive analytic approach, this study synthesises findings of the educational contexts, GenAI tools and their roles, learning tasks, theoretical frameworks, research methods, and stakeholder perceptions. The study identified several learning tasks—such as simulating patient interactions, providing real-time feedback, and exploring personalised learning pathways—that are commonly developed using GenAI in healthcare communication training. Among these, scenario generation and automated feedback were most frequently regarded as effective in fostering clinical reasoning, crisis communication, and empathetic engagement. In addition, the review also highlighted several practical and ethical challenges, including limited replicability and transparency of GenAI outputs, as well as insufficient effects on nonverbal communication skills. The study concludes with recommendations for future research on healthcare communication education, emphasising the integration of qualitative methods and the development of a comprehensive theoretical framework.

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