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ChatGPT-guided translation of pediatric emergency department discharge instructions
Andrew Yuanbo Wang1, Kristine Van Aarsen2,3, Sheena Belisle4,5
1Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
Background:
Language barriers in pediatric emergency medicine discharge instructions can impact patient safety, leading to poorer post-discharge outcomes. Google Translate has been widely used clinically as an alternative to professional translations but is prone to errors. ChatGPT-4 is a large language model that has been shown to offer improved translation abilities in various domains. This study compares ChatGPT-4 and Google Translate for translating discharge instructions into Arabic and Simplified Chinese.
Methods:
15 standardized pediatric emergency department discharge instructions from our institution were translated from English to both Simplified Chinese and Arabic, using both ChatGPT-4 and Google Translate. Eight bilingual medical professionals (four per language group) were recruited as participants and presented with the English and the translated discharge instructions in a blinded manner. Participants rated the translations on a 5-point Likert scale for accuracy, safety, and understandability, followed by their overall translation preference.
Results:
In Arabic, ChatGPT-4 was found to be more accurate than Google Translate, (mean 4.1 vs. 3.7, mean difference = 0.43, 95% CI 0.15, 0.72, p = 0.003). Similarly for Simplified Chinese, ChatGPT-4 was found to be more accurate than Google Translate (mean 4.4 vs. 4.2; mean difference = 0.28, 95% CI 0.07, 0.50, p = 0.010). There were no significant differences in safety or understandability between ChatGPT-4 and Google Translate in either language. ChatGPT-4-generated translations were consistently preferred over Google Translate in both languages.
Conclusion:
Overall, ChatGPT-4 is a more accurate alternative to Google Translate in translating written pediatric discharge instructions from English to Simplified Chinese and Arabic. ChatGPT-4 could be a particularly valuable translation tool in healthcare settings with limited access to translation resources such as professional interpreters.
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