Evaluating ChatGPT for converting clinic letters into patient-friendly language

Background Previous research has shown that communication with patients in language they understand leads to greater comprehension of treatment and diagnoses but can be time consuming for clinicians.

Aim Here we sought to investigate the utility of ChatGPT to translate clinic letters into language patients understood, without loss of clinical information and to assess what impact this had on patients understanding of letter content.

Design & setting Single blinded quantitative study using objective and subjective analysis of language complexity.

Method Twenty-three clinic letters were provided by consultants across 8 specialties. Letters were inputted into ChatGPT with a prompt related to improve understanding for patients. Patient representatives were then asked to rate their understanding of the content of letters.

Results Translation of letters by ChatGPT resulted in no loss of clinical information, but did result in significant increase in understanding, satisfaction and decrease in the need to obtain medical help to translate the letter contents by patient representatives compared with clinician written originals.

Conclusion Overall, we conclude that ChatGPT can be used to translate clinic letters into patient friendly language without loss of clinical content, and that these letters are preferred by patients.