Navigating the Ethical Landmines of ChatGPT: Implications of Intelligent Chatbots in Plastic Surgery Clinical Practice.

ChatGPT is a cutting-edge language model developed by OpenAI with the potential to impact all facets of plastic surgery from research to clinical practice. New applications for ChatGPT are emerging at a rapid pace in both the scientific literature and popular media. It is important for clinicians to understand the capabilities and limitations of these tools before patient-facing implementation. In this article, the authors explore some of the technical details behind ChatGPT: what it is, and what it is not. As with any emerging technology, attention should be given to the ethical and health equity implications of this technology on our plastic surgery patients. The authors explore these concerns within the framework of the foundational principles of biomedical ethics: patient autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. ChatGPT and similar intelligent conversation agents have incredible promise in the field of plastic surgery but should be used cautiously and sparingly in their current form. To protect patients, it is imperative that societal guidelines for the safe use of this rapidly developing technology are developed.

Relevance of Academic Productivity in the Assessment of Integrated Plastic Surgery Applicants.

BACKGROUND: The academic productivity of an integrated plastic surgery applicant is strongly considered during the ranking process but is often difficult to assess. The h-index is a tool that provides an objective measure of both the quality and impact of an author's academic works. The goals of this study were to assess whether the h-index of recently matched plastic surgery interns correlates with their home and eventual residency program characteristics. METHODS: A database of all 2018 interns in integrated plastic surgery programs was created. The SCOPUS database was queried for the h-indices for each individual. RESULTS: In 2018, 77 integrated plastic surgery programs offered a total of 168 PGY1 positions; data was able to be obtained for 131 individuals. The mean h-index was 1.26 (range 0-14), with a mean of 4.22 publications (range 0-58). The h-index increased in concordance with overall number of publications. The h-index of applicants matching at Top 50 NIH Funded institutions had a significantly higher h-index (1.57) compared to those that matched to all other institutions (0.76) (p<0.05). Applicants matching at a "top 20" program as determined by Doximity reputation rankings also had a significantly higher h-index (1.96) compared to those matching at all other programs (0.83) (p< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The h-index of recently matched integrated plastic surgery interns correlates with several factors including program reputation and level of NIH funding. As applicants become increasingly well-qualified and the number of the publications increases commensurately, programs that place an emphasis on academic productivity may consider incorporating the h-index into their evaluation.