The practical use of artificial intelligence in Transfusion Medicine and Apheresis

Background: Blood and plasma volume calculations are a daily part of practice for many Transfusion Medicine and Apheresis practitioners. Though many formulas exist, each facility may have their own modifications to consider. ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) provides a new and exciting pathway for those with no programming experience to create personalized programs to meet the demands of daily practice. Additionally, this pathway creates computer programs that provide accurate and reproducible outputs. Herein, we aimed to create a step-by-step process for clinicians to create customized computer programs for use in everyday practice. Methods: We created a process of inputs to ChatGPT-4(0), which generated computer programming code. This code was copied and pasted into Notepad (and saved as a Python file) and Google Colaboratory to verify functionality. We validated the durability of our process by repeating it over a 5-day timeframe and by recruiting volunteers to reproduce our outputs using the suggested process. Results: Computer code generated by ChatGPT-4(0) in response to our common language inputs was accurate and durable over time. The code was fully functional in both Python and Colaboratory. Volunteers reproduced our process and outputs with minimal assistance. Conclusion: We analyzed the practical application of ChatGPT-4(0) and artificial intelligence (AI) to perform daily calculations encountered in Transfusion Medicine. Our results provide a proof of concept that people with no programming experience can create customizable solutions for their own facilities. Our future work will expand to the creation of comprehensive and customizable websites designed for each individual user.