Aligning Artificial Intelligence Literacy With Community Health Outcomes in Primary Care Education

Abstract

We read with interest the qualitative study by Andersen and colleagues exploring emergency primary care personnel’s perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision support systems in emergency settings in Norway. 1 The study offers valuable insights into how frontline health professionals perceive AI in clinical practice, particularly highlighting its role as a supportive “digital sparring partner” rather than a replacement for human clinical judgment. A central message emerging from the study is the continued importance of human decision-making in emergency primary care, even with the use of AI-based tools. Participants recognized the potential of AI to support diagnostic reasoning, generate alternative clinical considerations, and improve decision-making efficiency. However, they emphasized that final clinical decisions must remain grounded in professional judgment, contextual understanding, and patient-centered care. 1 These findings have important implications for health professions education. If AI is to function as a supportive rather than substitutive component of clinical practice, future health professionals need competencies that enable them to critically interpret AI-generated information, recognize its limitations, and integrate algorithmic outputs with professional judgment. Effective use of AI-based decision support therefore requires more than technical familiarity; it also demands digital literacy, critical appraisal, and the ability to contextualize AI outputs within individual patient and healthcare settings. 2 This presents both a gap and an opportunity for medical and allied health education. Building on Andersen et al.’s findings, AI literacy should be integrated into curricula alongside clinical reasoning, ethics, patient-centered care, and community health. Such integration would help students understand that AI-supported decision-making should not be evaluated solely in terms of technological performance, but also in relation to its implications for patients, healthcare teams, and the communities they serve. In this letter, community health refers broadly to efforts to protect and improve the health and well-being of people within a defined community by addressing health needs, access to care, prevention, and the social and contextual factors that