Artificial intelligence software can generate residency application personal statements that program directors find acceptable and difficult to distinguish from applicant compositions.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Create personal statements using an artificial intelligence program for anesthesiology residency applications that residency program directors rate as acceptable. STUDY DESIGN: Generate two personal statements and survey program directors. SETTING: Anesthesiology residency training programs. INTERVENTIONS: We instructed ChatGPT, a new artificial-intelligence software program, to generate two 400-word personal statements using the common applicant experiences of involvement in athletics or gourmet cooking. METHODS: We sent the generated personal statements to anesthesia program directors and asked them if the statements were acceptable for application to their individual programs, to rate them as poor, good, or excellent, and determine if they could detect anything in the statements that indicated they were not written by an applicant. MEASUREMENTS: Ninety-four program directors received and opened the survey, and 31 responded. Twenty-eight (90%) responding directors found the personal statement with athletic experience acceptable, with 22 (74%) rating it as good or excellent. Nineteen (61%) program directors did not detect anything in the statement to distinguish it from an applicant-written composition. Twenty-nine (97%) program directors found the personal statement with cooking experience acceptable, with 19 (63%) finding it good or excellent. Twenty-four (80%) directors did not detect anything in the statement to distinguish it from an applicant-written composition. CONCLUSIONS: ChatGPT can create personal statements for residency applications that program directors find acceptable and difficult to differentiate from personally crafted statements. Applicants may stop using expensive contractor application services and start using artificial intelligence software to create their personal statements because of its quickness, low cost, and high quality.

A 1966 Anesthetic Administered by Robert D. Dripps, M.D., Demonstrated His Experimental Style of Clinical Care.

Robert D. Dripps, M.D. (1911 to 1973), helped found academic anesthesiology. Newly reviewed teaching slides from the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) contain six anesthesia records from 1965 to 1967 that involved Dripps. They illustrate the clinical philosophy he taught-to consider administration of each anesthetic a research study. Intense public criticism in 1967 for improper experimentation on patients during anesthesia changed his clinical and research philosophies and teaching.

Plagiarism in Personal Statements of Anesthesiology Residency Applicants.

Plagiarism by residency applicants in their personal statements, as well as sites that sell personal statements, have been described, and led in 2011 to advice to avoid plagiarism and the caution that plagiarism detection software was available. We screened personal statements of 467 anesthesiology residency applicants from 2013-2014 using Viper Plagiarism Scanner software, and studied them for plagiarism. After quotes and commonly used phrases were removed, 82 statements contained unoriginal content of 8 or more consecutive words. After the study, 13.6% of personal statements from non-United States medical school graduates, and 4.0% from United States medical school graduates, contained plagiarized material, a significant difference. Plagiarized content ranged up to 58%. Plagiarism continues to occur in anesthesiology residency personal statements, with a higher incidence among graduates of non-United States medical schools.

Misuse of prescribed controlled substances defined by urinalysis.

The use of controlled substances to treat pain is associated with the need to monitor carefully patients for signs of addictive behaviors that may lead to the misuse or abuse of medications. At the West Virginia Pain Treatment Center in Morgantown, a narcotic protocol is employed which consists of a narcotic contract, consent, psychological evaluation, and random urinalysis to ensure the safe and proper use of controlled substances. This study reports the findings of a retrospective study of 186 patients at the center from Jan. 1, 2001 to Dec. 31, 2001, which revealed that there were 355 infractions of the narcotic contract. Products containing hydrocodone were found to be most frequently misused (20.3%), followed by oxycodone products (19.7%). Patients prescribed controlled substances should be repeatedly evaluated for medication misuse and the presence of addictive behaviors.

Missionary anesthesia

Missionary anesthesiologists are needed for developing areas around the world. Missionary work has both rewarding and frustrating aspects. Rewards include adventures in living and medicine and the chance to aid less fortunate people. The frustrations include separation from family, uncomfortable living conditions, language barriers, and inability to change medical practices that seem improper. (AU)