Appropriateness of ChatGPT as a resource for medication-related questions

With its increasing popularity, healthcare professionals and patients may use ChatGPT to obtain medication-related information. This study was conducted to assess ChatGPT's ability to provide satisfactory responses (i.e., directly answers the question, accurate, complete and relevant) to medication-related questions posed to an academic drug information service. ChatGPT responses were compared to responses generated by the investigators through the use of traditional resources, and references were evaluated. Thirty-nine questions were entered into ChatGPT; the three most common categories were therapeutics (8; 21%), compounding/formulation (6; 15%) and dosage (5; 13%). Ten (26%) questions were answered satisfactorily by ChatGPT. Of the 29 (74%) questions that were not answered satisfactorily, deficiencies included lack of a direct response (11; 38%), lack of accuracy (11; 38%) and/or lack of completeness (12; 41%). References were included with eight (29%) responses; each included fabricated references. Presently, healthcare professionals and consumers should be cautioned against using ChatGPT for medication-related information.