The efficacy of ChatGPT as a student resource for the diagnosis and treatment of neck pain

Introduction The use of Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer (ChatGPT) is becoming a highly used source of clinical information. No study has evaluated ChatGPT’s effectiveness in providing educational material to students about neck pain.Methods This cross-sectional study included 21 queries evaluating the use of ChatGPT v3.5 and v4.0 as educational tools for neck pain diagnosis and treatment. Misinformation was quantified using a Likert scale. Flesch–Kincaid grade level scores and word counts assessed readability. The DISCERN instrument evaluated quality, and the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) quantified understandability and actionability.Results No misinformation was present. Both chatbots produced responses around a 12th-grade reading level. ChatGPT v4.0 (M = 318.8 ± 53.3) had more words per response than ChatGPT v3.5 (M = 229.3 ± 44.6), p < 0.0001. ChatGPT v3.5 had greater information quality than ChatGPT v4.0 for intervention-related queries (p < 0.0001). Actionability scores were far lower than understandability scores; however, intervention queries had greater actionability scores than nonintervention queries (22.5% versus 10.5%, p < 0.0001). The chatbots produced moderate-quality responses.Conclusion The reading level and understandability likely make these chatbots more learner-friendly. The chatbots are likely suitable for generating basic facts rather than providing direct advice on neck pain.