ChatGPT as a Virtual Patient: Written Empathic Expressions During Medical History Taking

Abstract

Objective: Virtual patients are already utilized in the teaching of medical history taking. Since its emergence, ChatGPT has been integrated into several areas of medical education. This study aimed to examine whether ChatGPT can be used to train empathic history taking while fostering students' subjective autonomy. Methods: Third-year medical students took histories with ChatGPT 3.5 after entering a predefined prompt covering cardiological diseases. Afterwards, students answered a questionnaire regarding their experienced autonomy. All chats were analyzed using the Empathic Communication Coding System measuring ChatGPT's given empathic opportunities as well as students' responses. Results: Out of 659 interactions, 93 were identified as empathic. ChatGPT provided opportunities mostly through reporting emotional statements or challenges. Students sometimes missed reacting adequately to ChatGPT's opportunities but more often responded by implicit recognition of patient perspective and reported a high level of experienced autonomy. Conclusions: The study yielded preliminary results that ChatGPT might be suitable as a tool mimicking a virtual patient while enabling an empathic history taking. To date, ChatGPT seems valid as a supplement to training with simulated patients. Medical faculty could consider integrating ChatGPT into teaching, such as through a flipped classroom approach, to guide students in its use as ChatGPT continues to gain attention.

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