The shadow use of Gen AI in the consultation room

In this episode, we hear how Generative AI is making it into the consultation room - but not through NHS endorsed routes - surveys suggest that ⅔ of doctors are using AI, for backoffice tasks - but also increasingly for information and diagnosis.   David Navarro, a research fellow in generative AI at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Charlotte Blease, associate professor at the Participatory eHealth and Health Data Research Group at Uppsala University, and Marcus Lewis, GP in London, reflect on what we know about the real way in gen AI is being used - and what “triadic care” (doctor, patient and AI) will mean for the future of the therapeutic relationship.   We also hear from Teppo Järvinen, professor of orthopaedic surgery at Helsinki University, about surgical subacromial decompression - a 10 year follow up of a double blinded placebo controlled trial, confirms that surgery is no more effective than standard care. Yet surgical interventions continue - we hear why.   Finally, we go to a Cholera clinic in Nigeria, where Médecins Sans Frontières are running cholera treatment centres, which you can help by donating to our Christmas appeal.   Links Generative AI and the clinical encounter   The BMJ appeal 2025-26: Inside MSF’s response to cholera in Nigeria: a day in the life of an emergency doctor   Arthroscopic subacromial decompression versus placebo surgery for subacromial pain syndrome