Performance of ChatGPT in emergency medicine residency exams in Qatar: A comparative analysis with resident physicians

The inclusion of artificial intelligence (AI) in the healthcare sector has transformed medical practices by introducing innovative techniques for medical education, diagnosis, and treatment strategies. In medical education, the potential of AI to enhance learning and assessment methods is being increasingly recognized. This study aims to evaluate the performance of OpenAI's Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) in emergency medicine (EM) residency examinations in Qatar and compare it with the performance of resident physicians. A retrospective descriptive study with a mixed-methods design was conducted in August 2023. EM residents' examination scores were collected and compared with the performance of ChatGPT on the same examinations. The examinations consisted of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) from the same faculty responsible for Qatari Board EM examinations. ChatGPT's performance on these examinations was analyzed and compared with residents across various postgraduate years (PGY). The study included 238 emergency department residents from PGY1 to PGY4 and compared their performances with ChatGPT. ChatGPT scored consistently higher than resident groups in all examination categories. However, a notable decline in passing rates was observed among senior residents, indicating a potential misalignment between examination performance and practical competencies. Another likely reason can be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their learning experience, knowledge acquisition, and consolidation. ChatGPT demonstrated significant proficiency in the theoretical knowledge of EM, outperforming resident physicians in examination settings. This finding suggests the potential of AI as a supplementary tool in medical education.