AI in Pediatrics: How ChatGPT is Changing Child Healthcare

Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from science fiction to a daily reality, and the world of medicine is no exception. A groundbreaking systematic review has recently provided one of the first comprehensive looks at how ChatGPT, a leading AI chatbot, is being used in pediatric healthcare. The findings reveal a tool with immense potential to support doctors and families, but also highlight critical areas where human expertise remains irreplaceable.

A Deep Dive into the Research

To understand ChatGPT's true impact, researchers embarked on a systematic review, a meticulous process of gathering and analyzing all relevant scientific studies on a topic. They scoured major medical databases—PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science—for peer-reviewed studies published up to February 2025. After screening 475 articles, they narrowed their focus to 58 that specifically evaluated the use of ChatGPT in caring for patients aged 0 to 18 and their guardians. The central question was clear: How is this AI changing pediatric healthcare, from improving provider efficiency to educating parents?

Where ChatGPT Shines: Patient Education and Documentation

The review identified several areas where ChatGPT is already making a positive difference.

• Empowering Parents with Information: The most common application, featured in 38 studies, was patient education. ChatGPT proved highly accurate at generating easy-to-understand educational materials and answering frequently asked questions from parents about their child's health. This could be a game-changer for busy clinics, providing families with reliable information on demand. However, there's a catch: the AI's responses were often written at a high school reading level, meaning clinicians may need to simplify the language for it to be accessible to everyone.

• Streamlining Clinical Workflow: In five of the studies, ChatGPT was used to improve clinical documentation. It helped doctors efficiently draft clinical notes and detailed discharge instructions, tasks that are traditionally time-consuming. By automating parts of this process, the AI frees up valuable time for physicians to spend on direct patient care.

Navigating the Challenges: Clinical Decisions and Training

While ChatGPT excels at informational and administrative tasks, its performance was less reliable in more critical areas.

• Clinical Decision-Making: Twelve studies examined the AI's role in assisting with clinical decisions, such as suggesting treatment plans or management strategies. Here, the results were mixed. The accuracy of ChatGPT's recommendations varied, indicating that it cannot yet be trusted to make complex medical judgments without strict oversight from a qualified professional.

• Medical Training: Only three studies looked at using ChatGPT for training purposes, and these also showed inconsistent accuracy. This suggests that while it might be a useful supplementary tool, it is not yet ready to be a primary educational resource for the next generation of pediatricians.

The Verdict: A Promising Tool with Important Caveats

The conclusion from this extensive review is one of cautious optimism. ChatGPT demonstrates clear potential to become a valuable assistant in pediatric healthcare, particularly by enhancing physician efficiency and helping to create tailored educational resources for families.

However, the researchers stress that the journey is just beginning. Almost all the studies reviewed were observational. This means they observed how the AI was used but didn't conduct controlled experiments to measure its direct impact on care quality or patient health. With only one quasi-experimental study in the mix, there is a pressing need for more rigorous, experimental research. Future studies must be designed to definitively evaluate how tools like ChatGPT affect patient outcomes and the overall effectiveness of pediatric health systems.

For now, ChatGPT can be seen as a promising co-pilot, but the experienced human doctor must always remain in the captain's seat.

References

This blog post is based on a systematic review which analyzed 58 studies. Below is a selection of the research papers included in that review.

1. Shu LQ, Sun YK, Tan LH, Shu Q, Chang AC (2019) Application of artificial intelligence in pediatrics: past, present and future. World J Pediatr 15(2):105–108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12519-019-00255-1?utm_source=imaginepro.ai
2. Ramgopal S, Sanchez-Pinto LN, Horvat CM, Carroll MS, Luo Y, Florin TA (2023) Artificial intelligence-based clinical decision support in pediatrics. Pediatr Res 93(2):334–341. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-022-02226-1?utm_source=imaginepro.ai
3. Sallam M (2023) ChatGPT Utility in healthcare education, research, and practice: systematic review on the promising perspectives and valid concerns. Healthcare 11(6):887. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare11060887?utm_source=imaginepro.ai
4. Ba H, Zhang L, Yi Z (2024) Enhancing clinical skills in pediatric trainees: a comparative study of ChatGPT-assisted and traditional teaching methods. BMC Med Educ 24(1):558. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05565-1?utm_source=imaginepro.ai
5. Shin H, De Gagne JC, Kim SS, Hong M (2024) The impact of artificial intelligence-assisted learning on nursing students’ ethical decision-making and clinical reasoning in pediatric care: a quasi-experimental study. Comput Inform Nurs CIN 42(10):704–711. https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000001177?utm_source=imaginepro.ai