Building a Cultural Perspective on Doctor-Patient Conversations

2026-09-16

AI Summary

研究通过引入交互文化标记，比较真实、模拟和合成的医患对话，解决AI医疗记录中文化差异问题。

Abstract

AI-powered medical scribes are increasingly used to transcribe doctor-patient conversations and automate clinical documentation. However, large-scale real-world consultation datasets are scarce due to the sensitivity of clinical conversations, leading developers to rely on simulated and LLM-generated synthetic consultations. While scalable, these alternatives may fail to capture culturally situated patterns of clinical interaction. We introduce interactional cultural markers, measurable patterns of doctor-patient interaction grounded in cross-cultural clinical communication, and use them to compare real, simulated, and synthetic consultations from Indian and US clinical contexts. We find distinct patterns of participation and control: Indian consultations involve greater patient participation but stronger doctor control, while US consultations exhibit balanced participation and open-ended discussion. Synthetic Indian consultations often fail to reproduce these patterns, instead converging toward US-like interaction. We identify additional synthetic signatures, including excessive doctor explanation and formulaic patient responses. We conclude by discussing implications for generating culturally grounded synthetic clinical conversations.

Problem

• AI-powered medical scribes
• real-world consultation datasets
• cultural markers
• clinical communication
• synthetic consultations

Innovation

• interactional cultural markers
• cross-cultural clinical communication
• synthetic consultations