Clinical Scorecard: Expert Assessment of ChatGPT’s Answers to Patient Questions About Standard and Fast-Track Total Knee Arthroplasty
At a Glance
Category
Detail
Condition
End-stage knee osteoarthritis treated with total knee arthroplasty (TKA)
Key Mechanisms
Fast-track arthroplasty pathways prioritize patient education, multimodal analgesia, early mobilization, avoidance of unnecessary tubes and drains, and early discharge according to functional criteria.
Target Population
Patients undergoing conventional or fast-track total knee arthroplasty
Care Setting
Patient education before and after TKA
Key Highlights
The cross-sectional study evaluated ChatGPT-generated answers to 50 conventional TKA questions and 20 fast-track TKA questions.
Three high-volume arthroplasty surgeons independently rated responses for accuracy, completeness, safety, and readability on 5-point scales.
Evaluators also recorded whether specialist correction was needed and whether a response contained potentially unsafe patient information.
Fast-track questions addressed early mobilization and discharge, multimodal analgesia, selective drainage and catheter use, self-management, thromboprophylaxis, and post-discharge safety.
The question sets were developed using different processes, so their comparison was not intended to assess equivalence or noninferiority.
Guideline-Based Recommendations
Diagnosis
Management
Monitoring & Follow-up
Risks
Patient & Prescribing Data
Individuals undergoing TKA for end-stage knee osteoarthritis; the study evaluated answers to patient questions and did not collect patient-level data.
The article describes fast-track TKA as involving early mobilization and discharge, multimodal analgesia, and selective use of drains and urinary catheters. It does not provide medication doses or patient-specific prescribing instructions.
