How Easy Is It to Get a Grip on Hand Pathologies? A Comparative Analysis of ChatGPT Against AAOS, AAHS, and ASSH Patient Information Sheets

Objectives Chat generative pre-trained transformer (ChatGPT) is a conversational artificial intelligence tool that can compose, analyze, and present information to its users. This comparative study aimed to explore whether ChatGPT can generate patient information sheets on common hand pathologies for the average US patient. The comprehensibility (dubbed “readability”) of ChatGPT was examined and compared to that of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the American Association of Hand Surgery (AAHS), and the American Society for Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) patient information sheets. Methods Patient information sheets related to common hand pathologies were identified through the AAOS, AAHS, and ASSH websites. All entries used were pathologies limited to the hand and wrist. ChatGPT was utilized to generate patient information sheets on the same hand pathologies at the sixth-grade reading level. WebFx was utilized to calculate readability scores for the AAOS, AAHS, ASSH, and ChatGPT-generated patient sheets. Statistical analysis was determined using a paired two-tailed t-test. Statistical significance was defined as P < 0.05. Results Based on the results, patient information sheets from AAOS and ASSH are significantly easier to read on most metrics. Those from AAHS are no different from those generated from ChatGPT except for being easier to read per the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease and Coleman-Liau Index. Information sheets generated by ChatGPT have a significantly smaller number of words and complex words compared to those from AAOS and ASSH. Conclusions Patients may find it easier to read patient information sheets from AAOS and ASSH compared to those generated by ChatGPT.