Evaluating the Utility and Acceptability of an Artificial Intelligence-Powered Care Aid for Perioperative Patient Inquiries in Joint Arthroplasty Surgery.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
BACKGROUND: Conventional educational materials for total joint arthroplasty (TJA) frequently exhibit deficiencies in readability and personalization. This investigation assessed a custom-tailored artificial intelligence (CTAI) platform to evaluate its efficacy in enhancing preoperative patient education within arthroplasty surgery. METHODS: This prospective, observational pilot study employed a two-phase sequential design: a 10-patient a priori cohort followed by implementation with 30 additional participants undergoing primary total hip or knee arthroplasty. Participants accessed the platform during the preoperative period and early postoperative recovery. There were 32 patients (50.0% knee, 50.0% hip) who completed the preoperative survey. Outcomes were captured using structured surveys administered at the presurgical screening visit and again at the 6-week follow-up using a phase-specific postoperative instrument that retained core items and incorporated recovery-focused domains. Measures included feasibility (e.g., platform access and engagement) and patient-reported experience, including usefulness, understandability of responses, perceived completeness of answers, and perceived preparedness/readiness. RESULTS: The majority (84.8%) successfully engaged with the CTAI; 59.4% submitted one to four queries, while 25.1% submitted five or more. Surgeon-provided educational materials constituted the predominant information source (84.4%), followed by CTAI engagement (56.3%). The platform was deemed clinically valuable (≥ 4 rating) by 66.7% of users, with 84.4% reporting high comprehensibility of responses and 75.1% indicating satisfactory resolution of surgical inquiries. Furthermore, 75.0% reported enhanced preparedness, and 80.4% expressed intention to recommend the platform. Predominant query domains included perioperative logistics (22.8%), postoperative concerns (22.0%), and activity parameters (12.9%). At six weeks postoperatively, 24 of 32 (75.0%) completed the postoperative survey, and 22 of 24 (91.7%) reported successful platform access. Engagement was heterogeneous, with seven of 24 (29.2%) submitting zero questions and five of 24 (20.8%) submitting greater than 10. For postoperative question resolution, seven of 24 (29.2%) reported all questions were answered clearly (score 5), whereas seven of 24 (29.2%) reported the CTAI did not answer their questions (score 1). Recovery instruction comprehensibility remained high, with 14 of 24 (58.3%) reporting the instructions were very easy to understand (score 5). CONCLUSION: Preliminary findings demonstrate that the CTAI platform is feasible to deploy as an efficacious adjunctive tool for preoperative TJA education. Most participants who accessed the platform reported favorable understandability and perceived completeness of responses and reported increased preparedness for surgery. The diversity of inquiry domains underscores the platform's capacity for addressing varied patient concerns. Larger comparative studies with appropriate control groups are needed to determine the platform's impact relative to standard education and to evaluate downstream clinical outcomes.
