To evaluate the response capabilities, in a public healthcare system otolaryngology job competition examination, of ChatGPT 3.5 and an internet-connected GPT-4 engine (Microsoft Copilot) with the real scores of otolaryngology specialists as the control group. In September 2023, 135 questions divided into theoretical and practical parts were input into ChatGPT 3.5 and an internet-connected GPT-4. The accuracy of AI responses was compared with the official results from otolaryngologists who took the exam, and statistical analysis was conducted using Stata 14.2. Copilot (GPT-4) outperformed ChatGPT 3.5. Copilot achieved a score of 88.5 points, while ChatGPT scored 60 points. Both AIs had discrepancies in their incorrect answers. Despite ChatGPT\'s proficiency, Copilot displayed superior performance, ranking as the second-best score among the 108 otolaryngologists who took the exam, while ChatGPT was placed 83rd. A chat powered by GPT-4 with internet access (Copilot) demonstrates superior performance in responding to multiple-choice medical questions compared to ChatGPT 3.5.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, 1 in 5 adults currently serves as a family caregiver for an individual with a serious illness or disability. Unlike professional caregivers, family caregivers often assume this role without formal preparation or training. Thus, there is an urgent need to enhance the capacity of family caregivers to provide quality care. Leveraging technology as an educational tool or an adjunct to care is a promising approach that has the potential to enhance the learning and caregiving capabilities of family caregivers. Large language models (LLMs) can potentially be used as a foundation technology for supporting caregivers. An LLM can be categorized as a foundation model (FM), which is a large-scale model trained on a broad data set that can be adapted to a range of different domain tasks. Despite their potential, FMs have the critical weakness of \"hallucination,\" where the models generate information that can be misleading or inaccurate. Information reliability is essential when language models are deployed as front-line help tools for caregivers.
OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to (1) develop a reliable caregiving language model (CaLM) by using FMs and a caregiving knowledge base, (2) develop an accessible CaLM using a small FM that requires fewer computing resources, and (3) evaluate the model\'s performance compared with a large FM.
METHODS: We developed a CaLM using the retrieval augmented generation (RAG) framework combined with FM fine-tuning for improving the quality of FM answers by grounding the model on a caregiving knowledge base. The key components of the CaLM are the caregiving knowledge base, a fine-tuned FM, and a retriever module. We used 2 small FMs as candidates for the foundation of the CaLM (LLaMA [large language model Meta AI] 2 and Falcon with 7 billion parameters) and adopted a large FM (GPT-3.5 with an estimated 175 billion parameters) as a benchmark. We developed the caregiving knowledge base by gathering various types of documents from the internet. We focused on caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer disease and related dementias. We evaluated the models\' performances using the benchmark metrics commonly used in evaluating language models and their reliability for providing accurate references with their answers.
RESULTS: The RAG framework improved the performance of all FMs used in this study across all measures. As expected, the large FM performed better than the small FMs across all metrics. Interestingly, the small fine-tuned FMs with RAG performed significantly better than GPT 3.5 across all metrics. The fine-tuned LLaMA 2 with a small FM performed better than GPT 3.5 (even with RAG) in returning references with the answers.
CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that a reliable and accessible CaLM can be developed using small FMs with a knowledge base specific to the caregiving domain.

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated skin disease affecting approximately 3% of the global population. Proper management of this condition necessitates the assessment of the Body Surface Area (BSA) and the involvement of nails and joints. Recently, the integration of Natural Language Processing (NLP) with Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) has shown promise in advancing disease classification and research. This study evaluates the performance of ChatGPT-4, a commercial AI platform, in analyzing unstructured EMR data of psoriasis patients, particularly in identifying affected body areas.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning models, has transformed the landscape of medical technology, especially in the field of diagnosis using imaging and physiological data. In otolaryngology, AI has shown promise in image classification for middle ear diseases. However, existing models often lack patient-specific data and clinical context, limiting their universal applicability. The emergence of GPT-4 Vision (GPT-4V) has enabled a multimodal diagnostic approach, integrating language processing with image analysis.
In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of GPT-4V in diagnosing middle ear diseases by integrating patient-specific data with otoscopic images of the tympanic membrane.
The design of this study was divided into two phases: (1) establishing a model with appropriate prompts and (2) validating the ability of the optimal prompt model to classify images. In total, 305 otoscopic images of 4 middle ear diseases (acute otitis media, middle ear cholesteatoma, chronic otitis media, and otitis media with effusion) were obtained from patients who visited Shinshu University or Jichi Medical University between April 2010 and December 2023. The optimized GPT-4V settings were established using prompts and patients\' data, and the model created with the optimal prompt was used to verify the diagnostic accuracy of GPT-4V on 190 images. To compare the diagnostic accuracy of GPT-4V with that of physicians, 30 clinicians completed a web-based questionnaire consisting of 190 images.
The multimodal AI approach achieved an accuracy of 82.1%, which is superior to that of certified pediatricians at 70.6%, but trailing behind that of otolaryngologists at more than 95%. The model\'s disease-specific accuracy rates were 89.2% for acute otitis media, 76.5% for chronic otitis media, 79.3% for middle ear cholesteatoma, and 85.7% for otitis media with effusion, which highlights the need for disease-specific optimization. Comparisons with physicians revealed promising results, suggesting the potential of GPT-4V to augment clinical decision-making.
Despite its advantages, challenges such as data privacy and ethical considerations must be addressed. Overall, this study underscores the potential of multimodal AI for enhancing diagnostic accuracy and improving patient care in otolaryngology. Further research is warranted to optimize and validate this approach in diverse clinical settings.

In this cross-sectional study, we evaluated the completeness, readability, and syntactic complexity of cardiovascular disease prevention information produced by GPT-4 in response to 4 kinds of prompts.

BACKGROUND: Large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable capabilities in natural language processing (NLP), especially in domains where labeled data are scarce or expensive, such as the clinical domain. However, to unlock the clinical knowledge hidden in these LLMs, we need to design effective prompts that can guide them to perform specific clinical NLP tasks without any task-specific training data. This is known as in-context learning, which is an art and science that requires understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different LLMs and prompt engineering approaches.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of various prompt engineering techniques, including 2 newly introduced types-heuristic and ensemble prompts, for zero-shot and few-shot clinical information extraction using pretrained language models.
METHODS: This comprehensive experimental study evaluated different prompt types (simple prefix, simple cloze, chain of thought, anticipatory, heuristic, and ensemble) across 5 clinical NLP tasks: clinical sense disambiguation, biomedical evidence extraction, coreference resolution, medication status extraction, and medication attribute extraction. The performance of these prompts was assessed using 3 state-of-the-art language models: GPT-3.5 (OpenAI), Gemini (Google), and LLaMA-2 (Meta). The study contrasted zero-shot with few-shot prompting and explored the effectiveness of ensemble approaches.
RESULTS: The study revealed that task-specific prompt tailoring is vital for the high performance of LLMs for zero-shot clinical NLP. In clinical sense disambiguation, GPT-3.5 achieved an accuracy of 0.96 with heuristic prompts and 0.94 in biomedical evidence extraction. Heuristic prompts, alongside chain of thought prompts, were highly effective across tasks. Few-shot prompting improved performance in complex scenarios, and ensemble approaches capitalized on multiple prompt strengths. GPT-3.5 consistently outperformed Gemini and LLaMA-2 across tasks and prompt types.
CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a rigorous evaluation of prompt engineering methodologies and introduces innovative techniques for clinical information extraction, demonstrating the potential of in-context learning in the clinical domain. These findings offer clear guidelines for future prompt-based clinical NLP research, facilitating engagement by non-NLP experts in clinical NLP advancements. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first works on the empirical evaluation of different prompt engineering approaches for clinical NLP in this era of generative artificial intelligence, and we hope that it will inspire and inform future research in this area.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence models can learn from medical literature and clinical cases and generate answers that rival human experts. However, challenges remain in the analysis of complex data containing images and diagrams.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the answering capabilities and accuracy of ChatGPT-4 Vision (GPT-4V) for a set of 100 questions, including image-based questions, from the 2023 otolaryngology board certification examination.
METHODS: Answers to 100 questions from the 2023 otolaryngology board certification examination, including image-based questions, were generated using GPT-4V. The accuracy rate was evaluated using different prompts, and the presence of images, clinical area of the questions, and variations in the answer content were examined.
RESULTS: The accuracy rate for text-only input was, on average, 24.7% but improved to 47.3% with the addition of English translation and prompts (P<.001). The average nonresponse rate for text-only input was 46.3%; this decreased to 2.7% with the addition of English translation and prompts (P<.001). The accuracy rate was lower for image-based questions than for text-only questions across all types of input, with a relatively high nonresponse rate. General questions and questions from the fields of head and neck allergies and nasal allergies had relatively high accuracy rates, which increased with the addition of translation and prompts. In terms of content, questions related to anatomy had the highest accuracy rate. For all content types, the addition of translation and prompts increased the accuracy rate. As for the performance based on image-based questions, the average of correct answer rate with text-only input was 30.4%, and that with text-plus-image input was 41.3% (P=.02).
CONCLUSIONS: Examination of artificial intelligence\'s answering capabilities for the otolaryngology board certification examination improves our understanding of its potential and limitations in this field. Although the improvement was noted with the addition of translation and prompts, the accuracy rate for image-based questions was lower than that for text-based questions, suggesting room for improvement in GPT-4V at this stage. Furthermore, text-plus-image input answers a higher rate in image-based questions. Our findings imply the usefulness and potential of GPT-4V in medicine; however, future consideration of safe use methods is needed.

UNASSIGNED: The current paradigm in mental health care focuses on clinical recovery and symptom remission. This model\'s efficacy is influenced by therapist trust in patient recovery potential and the depth of the therapeutic relationship. Schizophrenia is a chronic illness with severe symptoms where the possibility of recovery is a matter of debate. As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes integrated into the health care field, it is important to examine its ability to assess recovery potential in major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia.
UNASSIGNED: This study aimed to evaluate the ability of large language models (LLMs) in comparison to mental health professionals to assess the prognosis of schizophrenia with and without professional treatment and the long-term positive and negative outcomes.
UNASSIGNED: Vignettes were inputted into LLMs interfaces and assessed 10 times by 4 AI platforms: ChatGPT-3.5, ChatGPT-4, Google Bard, and Claude. A total of 80 evaluations were collected and benchmarked against existing norms to analyze what mental health professionals (general practitioners, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and mental health nurses) and the general public think about schizophrenia prognosis with and without professional treatment and the positive and negative long-term outcomes of schizophrenia interventions.
UNASSIGNED: For the prognosis of schizophrenia with professional treatment, ChatGPT-3.5 was notably pessimistic, whereas ChatGPT-4, Claude, and Bard aligned with professional views but differed from the general public. All LLMs believed untreated schizophrenia would remain static or worsen without professional treatment. For long-term outcomes, ChatGPT-4 and Claude predicted more negative outcomes than Bard and ChatGPT-3.5. For positive outcomes, ChatGPT-3.5 and Claude were more pessimistic than Bard and ChatGPT-4.
UNASSIGNED: The finding that 3 out of the 4 LLMs aligned closely with the predictions of mental health professionals when considering the \"with treatment\" condition is a demonstration of the potential of this technology in providing professional clinical prognosis. The pessimistic assessment of ChatGPT-3.5 is a disturbing finding since it may reduce the motivation of patients to start or persist with treatment for schizophrenia. Overall, although LLMs hold promise in augmenting health care, their application necessitates rigorous validation and a harmonious blend with human expertise.

BACKGROUND: Communication is a core competency of medical professionals and of utmost importance for patient safety. Although medical curricula emphasize communication training, traditional formats, such as real or simulated patient interactions, can present psychological stress and are limited in repetition. The recent emergence of large language models (LLMs), such as generative pretrained transformer (GPT), offers an opportunity to overcome these restrictions.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of a GPT-driven chatbot to practice history taking, one of the core competencies of communication.
METHODS: We developed an interactive chatbot interface using GPT-3.5 and a specific prompt including a chatbot-optimized illness script and a behavioral component. Following a mixed methods approach, we invited medical students to voluntarily practice history taking. To determine whether GPT provides suitable answers as a simulated patient, the conversations were recorded and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative approaches. We analyzed the extent to which the questions and answers aligned with the provided script, as well as the medical plausibility of the answers. Finally, the students filled out the Chatbot Usability Questionnaire (CUQ).
RESULTS: A total of 28 students practiced with our chatbot (mean age 23.4, SD 2.9 years). We recorded a total of 826 question-answer pairs (QAPs), with a median of 27.5 QAPs per conversation and 94.7% (n=782) pertaining to history taking. When questions were explicitly covered by the script (n=502, 60.3%), the GPT-provided answers were mostly based on explicit script information (n=471, 94.4%). For questions not covered by the script (n=195, 23.4%), the GPT answers used 56.4% (n=110) fictitious information. Regarding plausibility, 842 (97.9%) of 860 QAPs were rated as plausible. Of the 14 (2.1%) implausible answers, GPT provided answers rated as socially desirable, leaving role identity, ignoring script information, illogical reasoning, and calculation error. Despite these results, the CUQ revealed an overall positive user experience (77/100 points).
CONCLUSIONS: Our data showed that LLMs, such as GPT, can provide a simulated patient experience and yield a good user experience and a majority of plausible answers. Our analysis revealed that GPT-provided answers use either explicit script information or are based on available information, which can be understood as abductive reasoning. Although rare, the GPT-based chatbot provides implausible information in some instances, with the major tendency being socially desirable instead of medically plausible information.

BACKGROUND: The systematic review of clinical research papers is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process that often involves the screening of thousands of titles and abstracts. The accuracy and efficiency of this process are critical for the quality of the review and subsequent health care decisions. Traditional methods rely heavily on human reviewers, often requiring a significant investment of time and resources.
OBJECTIVE: This study aims to assess the performance of the OpenAI generative pretrained transformer (GPT) and GPT-4 application programming interfaces (APIs) in accurately and efficiently identifying relevant titles and abstracts from real-world clinical review data sets and comparing their performance against ground truth labeling by 2 independent human reviewers.
METHODS: We introduce a novel workflow using the Chat GPT and GPT-4 APIs for screening titles and abstracts in clinical reviews. A Python script was created to make calls to the API with the screening criteria in natural language and a corpus of title and abstract data sets filtered by a minimum of 2 human reviewers. We compared the performance of our model against human-reviewed papers across 6 review papers, screening over 24,000 titles and abstracts.
RESULTS: Our results show an accuracy of 0.91, a macro F1-score of 0.60, a sensitivity of excluded papers of 0.91, and a sensitivity of included papers of 0.76. The interrater variability between 2 independent human screeners was κ=0.46, and the prevalence and bias-adjusted κ between our proposed methods and the consensus-based human decisions was κ=0.96. On a randomly selected subset of papers, the GPT models demonstrated the ability to provide reasoning for their decisions and corrected their initial decisions upon being asked to explain their reasoning for incorrect classifications.
CONCLUSIONS: Large language models have the potential to streamline the clinical review process, save valuable time and effort for researchers, and contribute to the overall quality of clinical reviews. By prioritizing the workflow and acting as an aid rather than a replacement for researchers and reviewers, models such as GPT-4 can enhance efficiency and lead to more accurate and reliable conclusions in medical research.