ChatGPT May Provide Helpful Postoperative Instructions | Health
The use of technology has improved the provision of healthcare, and ChatGPT is one such technological innovation that provides helpful postoperative instructions. According to a research letter published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, ChatGPT is particularly useful for families of pediatric otolaryngology patients with low health literacy.
The study, which was carried out by Noel F. Ayoub, M.D., from the Stanford University School of Medicine in California, focused on assessing the effectiveness of ChatGPT in augmenting patient knowledge and generating postoperative instructions for use in populations with low educational or health literacy levels. The study analyzed postoperative patient instructions for eight common pediatric otolaryngologic procedures.
The researchers discovered that ChatGPT-generated instructions, which were requested for a fifth-grade reading level, had scores ranging from 73 to 82 percent for understandability, 20 to 80 percent for actionability, and 75 to 100 percent for procedure-specific items. Meanwhile, for procedure-specific items, scores were highest for institution-generated and ChatGPT instructions (both 97 percent versus 72 percent for Google Search).
Despite the fact that institution-generated instructions had the highest scores for understandability and actionability, the researchers noted that ChatGPT is still beneficial for patients and clinicians, especially when alternative resources are limited. This technology can be used to bridge the gap created by low health literacy levels among pediatric otolaryngology patients.
