PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Rehabil. Sci.
Sec. Interventions for Rehabilitation
Using AI in Healthcare Education: A Rapid Review and Commentary
Razan Hamed
Dylan Van
Columbia University, New York City, United States
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Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming healthcare and rehabilitation education, offering new pathways for personalized learning, adaptive assessment, and simulation-based training. This paper provides a rapid review and commentary on current research exploring AI’s integration into healthcare curricula, highlighting its potential to enhance competency development, critical thinking, and learner engagement. Evidence shows that AI can enrich educational experiences by tailoring instruction to individual needs, facilitating clinical reasoning, and reducing the cognitive and logistical burdens faced by graduate students who balance academics with professional and personal responsibilities. Yet, the increasing reliance on AI also introduces ethical, cultural, and pedagogical challenges, including algorithmic bias, data privacy concerns, inequitable access to technology, and the risk of diminishing independent judgment. Within rehabilitation education, additional issues arise related to patient confidentiality, assessment authenticity, and the unauthorized use of educators’ intellectual property. The findings emphasize that successful integration of AI in healthcare education depends on proactive strategies that uphold ethical practice, equity, and reflective learning. By embedding AI literacy, cultural humility, and clear ethical guardrails into curricula, educators can ensure that technology complements—rather than compromises—the humanistic and critical dimensions of healthcare practice.
Summary
Keywords
healthcare, Rehabilitation, Competency based education, artificial intellegence technology, Critical Thinking
Received
30 September 2025
Accepted
09 February 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Hamed and Van. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Razan Hamed
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.