Can ChatGPT help physicians communicate bad news to patients more compassionately? Oncologist Ranjana Srivastava, MD, wrote June 21 in The Guardian that she is already using the artificial intelligence chatbot for this purpose.
After reading a recent New York Times story about how physicians are employing the AI tool to become more empathetic, she told ChatGPT: "I am an oncologist, help me deliver bad news. What can I do wrong with my communication? I need tips to support my patients receiving bad news."
"The responses are detailed and helpful," she wrote. "They contain reminders to take time, avoid jargon, acknowledge emotion and be sensitive. There is sound advice but also specific language to consider, my favorite being: 'Before we proceed, I want to make sure you are comfortable having this conversation now. Make sure to stop me. We can take this at your pace.'"
Dr. Srivastava noted that ChatGPT won't fix the physician shortage or "resolve existential grief, offer a healing touch, or sense the tears and be ready with the tissues."
"But so long as there is no wave of humans with the time and expertise to teach doctors how to get better at giving bad news, I will be telling my trainees to open another browser and chat to ChatGPT in times of need," she wrote. "Rather a patient rescued with a little help from a chatbot than one devastated by a doctor."