The quality and safety of using generative AI to produce patient-centred discharge instructions

Abstract

Patient-centred instructions on discharge can improve adherence and outcomes. Using GPT-3.5 to generate patient-centred discharge instructions, we evaluated responses for safety, accuracy and language simplification. When tested on 100 discharge summaries from MIMIC-IV, potentially harmful safety issues attributable to the AI tool were found in 18%, including 6% with hallucinations and 3% with new medications. AI tools can generate patient-centred discharge instructions, but careful implementation is needed to avoid harms.