Faculty/School

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Primary Supervisor

Dr Kath O'Brien
Position
Senior Lecturer, Teacher Professional Experience
Division / Faculty
Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice

Other QUT supervisors

Associate Professor Zoe Noonan
Position
Academic Lead, Assessment
Division / Faculty
Faculty of Health

Overview

Interdisciplinary research:  working across the School of Education and School of Medicine, this project focuses on developing an AI-informed framework to support medical students' professional development and the evaluation of their patient history-taking practice. It addresses a key problem in clinical care: the lack of timely, objective, and constructive feedback, proposing that an applied GenAI tool can deliver instantaneous insights without bias or judgment. The intended contribution is to enhance the quality of history-taking by supporting continuous improvement, ultimately helping medical students refine their future practice and become more effective in eliciting accurate patient information, building rapport, and supporting sound diagnostic and treatment decisions.

Research engagement

Literature review; survey design; GenAI framework design and applied evaluation

Research activities

Working with Dr Kath O'Brien and Assoc. Professor Zoe Noonan to design and systematically test a GenAI-driven conversational framework for taking patients' medical histories.

Research skills

Designing and evaluating AI/GenAI systems; developing and validating assessment instruments; collecting and analysing qualitative and mixed-methods data.

Outcomes

A validated, AI-informed framework and GenAI tool that delivers timely, objective, and unbiased feedback on clinicians' patient history-taking

Skills and experience

The ideal candidate would have a background in a relevant field such as education, nursing, or health sciences, combined with an interest in clinical communication and emerging AI technologies. They should also possess familiarity with data analysis and a willingness to work with both clinical participants and GenAI tools.

Start date

2 November, 2026

End date

19 February, 2027

Location

Kelvin Grove campus

Additional information

Guided access to a clinical communication skills framework or validated assessment guide, such as the Calgary-Cambridge Guide to the Medical Interview, which provides an already established, evidence-based structure for history-taking that the student can use as a foundation for developing and benchmarking their AI-informed evaluation framework.

Keywords

Contact

Kath O'Brien

31383621

katherine.obrien@qut.edu.au