Google has launched a paid online course that teaches doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff how to use AI for paperwork, patient handouts and study. The Google AI for Healthcare Professionals Certificate, announced on October 29 by Google Chief Health Officer Dr. Michael Howell, takes under five hours and is approved for up to 5.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits (a form of continuing medical education, or CME, credit).
The course does not teach AI for diagnosis or treatment. Google says it is "strictly designed for non-clinical administrative tasks, patient communication, and professional development."
What the course covers
Google's FAQ says the certificate has four courses of about one hour each. Coursera's listing shows the first course at 2 hours and each of the other three at 1 hour. The four courses, as described on the program page:
- AI Fundamentals for Healthcare Professionals. Which tasks AI can safely support, how to check model outputs with clinical judgment, and how to protect patient privacy.
- Strengthen Patient Communication with AI. Turning medical jargon into plain-language summaries and visual aids for patients.
- Optimize Healthcare Administrative Tasks with AI. Pulling action items out of email, building staff and shift schedules, and turning clinical documents into audio briefings. Coursera's listing adds building a simple app for repetitive admin work without writing code.
- Advance Healthcare Professional Development. Using AI to break down studies, build presentations and prepare for continuing education and board exams.
The tools used in the lessons are Gemini, Gemini Notebook (the product formerly called NotebookLM) and Gemini for Work. Google says the skills should carry over to "any tool your institution adopts," so the lessons are not meant only for Google customers.
Who built it and who it is for
In Google's announcement, Howell says the curriculum was developed by clinicians at Google with backgrounds in internal medicine, pediatrics, critical care medicine, emergency medicine and public health. It draws on draft versions of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) AI competencies for medical education. Google notes those competencies were still under development when the course was first designed. The program page says the material was "reviewed by leading healthcare organizations," but it does not name them. Coursera lists five Google physicians as faculty, including Howell.
The target audience is broad. The FAQ lists physicians, nurses, psychologists, therapists, social workers, pharmacists, graduate medical students, medical residents and fellows, nursing students, allied health professionals, health informatics staff and administrators. No prior AI or technical experience is required.
Google says some institutions already offer the course. NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Touro University are giving it to faculty, residents and medical students, and Purdue University School of Nursing is including it in its training, according to the announcement.
Cost and credits
In the US and Canada the certificate runs on Coursera as a $49-per-month subscription after a 7-day free trial, and prices may vary by country. Coursera lists it as a beginner-level, four-course series. It says you cannot enroll for free, but financial aid is available, and the certificate carries no university credit.
The CME activity is jointly provided by Google LLC and the International Institute for Continuing Medical Education (iiCME), which is accredited by the ACCME. Coursera's listing says the credit is valid from October 29, 2026 through October 29, 2029. Google's FAQ explains how the credits apply by role:
- Physicians can claim up to 5.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits.
- Nurse practitioners and registered nurses: the American Nurses Credentialing Center accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credits from ACCME-accredited providers.
- Physician assistants: the NCCPA accepts these credits from ACCME-accredited providers or a recognized state medical society.
- Pharmacists: acceptance depends on the state board of pharmacy, and some accept only ACPE-approved credit.
Google adds that the licensing body makes the final call on whether credit hours count.
Privacy rules in the lessons
Google's FAQ says data privacy concerns often make healthcare staff hesitate to use AI, and the course addresses them directly. According to the FAQ, it teaches learners to recognize approved enterprise environments, keep Protected Health Information (PHI) out of AI tools, check HIPAA-compliant AI standards and keep human oversight "firmly at the center of care." It also tells learners that their institution's internal policy is "always the ultimate source of truth."
That framing matters. A general chatbot on a personal account is not the same as a tool a hospital has approved for work with patient data.
Why it matters
Google's pitch is about time. Howell cites a National Nursing Workforce Survey that found nearly one in three registered nurses planned to leave or retire because of unsustainable workloads, and says nine out of 10 doctors want dedicated training in how to use AI effectively. Google presents the certificate as a way to move routine admin work to AI so staff can spend more time with patients.
There is also a business angle. The course teaches on Google's own Gemini products and adds to Google's broader health push, which this week included a public health partnership in Singapore that includes MedGemma in frontline care and an AI co-clinician trial. Staff who learn on Gemini may be more comfortable with it when their hospitals choose tools.
The certificate sits in the wider Grow with Google catalog, next to the general Google AI Professional Certificate and courses for students, educators and small businesses. For people outside healthcare who want a free starting point, our 12-week plan to learn AI from scratch covers the basics.
In separate news, the US health department this week finalized the removal of its AI model card rule for health records software, effective December 28.
What we do not know yet
Google has not published completion numbers or results from the institutions already using the course. The reviewing organizations are not named on the program page, and pricing outside the US and Canada is not listed. Whether the course actually saves clinicians time is a question for later studies, not this launch.
