Read July Bulletin Viewpoint Article on the Potential and Implications of ChatGPT for Surgeons

In a July Bulletin viewpoint article, Jeffrey S. Upperman, MD, FACS, and Patrick Meyers, MD—with support of artificial intelligence—discuss the potential and implications of ChatGPT for surgeons.

Balancing the responsibilities of patient care, research, education, and professional development with the time constraints of communication—administrative work such as responding to emails, performing research for cases and exchanging ideas—is a challenge familiar to all surgeons. And the communication features of many technologies, including those found in electronic health records, have limitations of manual input. But ChatGPT or other large language models (LLMs) could provide a solution to help take time-consuming administrative and research tasks off a surgeon’s workload, which can have implications for patients.

“ChatGPT or other LLMs may provide clinicians with a powerful tool to access information quickly during busy clinical days. Surgeons often face complex problems that require immediate access to guidelines, research findings, or treatment protocols,” the authors wrote. “With its vast training data and language understanding capabilities, ChatGPT can offer real-time assistance by generating concise and contextually appropriate responses. This functionality significantly improves decision-making and enhances patient care outcomes.”

While LLMs have clear limitations in their current forms, and there is much groundwork to be done to ensure these tools are used responsibly in healthcare, the authors said, “By working together, we can ensure responsible integration, address ethical considerations, and maximize the benefits for ACS members and the surgical community. The future of AI in supporting ACS members and advancing surgery is promising.”