Perspective Chapter: Educating Clinicians for AI-Driven Care and Surgery – Literacy, Human-Centered Design and the EU AI Act

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Abstract
As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves from passive decision-support tools to agentic clinical assistants – capable of drafting documentation, synthesizing complex cases, and automating surgical workflows – the educational requirements for clinicians are fundamentally changing. This transition represents a pivotal moment in medical history, akin to the introduction of medical imaging, yet the workforce remains largely unprepared for the shift from “human-in-the-loop” to “human-on-the-loop” interaction. This chapter addresses the critical gap between the rapid deployment of multimodal large language models (MLLMs) in medicine and the current lack of formal AI literacy in medical and surgical curricula. We propose a comprehensive framework for training the “agentic clinician”, built on three interdependent pillars: advanced technical literacy, human-centered design (HCD), and regulatory compliance under the new EU AI Act. Drawing on recent analyses and surveys of medical and dental students regarding trust, perceived roles, and preparedness, we outline a pragmatic curriculum that maps AI competencies onto existing clinical rotations. We then present a human-centered integration checklist for wards and operating rooms designed to mitigate risks such as, automation bias, hallucinations, and loss of situational awareness. Finally, the chapter operationalizes the EU AI Act by translating high-risk classification and postmarket monitoring obligations into concrete policies for hospitals and training programs. This roadmap is intended to empower educators and decision-makers to cultivate a workforce capable of safely supervising autonomous systems, ensuring that AI remains a tool for augmenting – rather than replacing – human clinical judgment.

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