Thread by @RohaidAliMD

The average American reads at an 8th-grade level, yet the standard surgical consent form in the United States is written at a college level. Can we truly call this "informed" consent?

Our simple #GPT4-powered solution to this widespread problem:

medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

1/ Our team collected and analyzed surgical consent forms in active use by 15 large hospitals across the country

On average the consents were written at the level of a college freshmen (!)

Next, we asked GPT-4 to convert these consents to the average American reading level:

2/ After GPT-4 simplification, reading level of these surgical consents fell from freshman year of college to the 8th-grade, with a 25% decrease in reading time

A medical malpractice defense attorney and 3 doctors agreed no change in meaning occurred for any of the 15 consents

3/ But wait, there's more:

We asked: can GPT-4 create personalized consent forms tailored to a specific operation treating a specific condition, and do so in a way that both withstands expert surgeon scrutiny and is accessible to the average American?

4/ Answer: yes. We found that GPT-4 was able to consistently create patient-centered consent forms across a wide range of operations

The consents had an average 6th-grade reading level, received perfect scores on a CMS consent grading rubric, and withstood expert scrutiny

5/ Best part: this AI-human expert framework is not just limited to enhancing the readability of surgical consent forms

It can be used to improve the readability of patient-facing literature across all of medicine, reducing disparities by mitigating barriers to health literacy

6/ The urgency is clear to leverage AI so its benefits reach all patients, including the most vulnerable

nytimes.com/2022/03/08/us/…