Footnotes Summer 2024 - 25

patient's x-rays and their IM, HA, AM, and HI angles, which
were manually inputted into the prompt. The AI chatbots
were graded on a scale of 1 (worst) to 5 (best) in comparison
to the recommendations of a board-certified foot and ankle
surgeon. Their team found that the AI chatbot's accuracy for
identifying HAV deformity was 84% and received a grade
of 4 out of 5 in comparison to the surgeon.
While impressive, the limitations of the chatbot were also
noticeable. For example, the chatbots provided different
types of answers for a single prompt, and their evaluations,
based only on the X-rays and angles given, did not account
for the patient's history or physical assessment. Despite these
limitations, their research highlights the potential uses of AI
in the podiatric field and underscores the importance of AIcentered
research to aid both physicians and patients.
Their team presented their research at the ACFAS
Conference in February, winning first place there as well as
at the NYCPM Poster Day. They plan to continue their work
on assessing AI capabilities and data collection, with hopes of
publishing their findings within the next year.
Opemipo Akin-Adejimi, Katiana Deyonke, Ajay Mishra,
and Myles Myers also showcased their team's incredible work
on patients' preoperative perceptions regarding foot and
ankle surgery, to better understand patients' health literacy,
psychological state, and emotional state before their surgery.
Their team designed a questionnaire assessing how well
patients understand their planned surgery, how many patients
try to get second opinions, how confident patients felt about
their planned surgery, patients' prediction of their pain level
post-surgery, and patient knowledge of the postoperative
treatment plan. Based on the 19 patients from the Foot Clinic
of New York who completed the questionnaire, they found
that patients with college education were more likely to seek
out second opinions compared to patients with lower levels
of education.
She hopes to continue on this research by recruiting more
patients and continuing out the next steps of their project;
SUMMER 2024
25
From Left to Right: Nikolay Igdalov, Emil Gulman, Biao Zhang, Ron Delannoy,
Mohammad Shigiri (lifted) at ACFAS Conference February 2024
assessing the correlation between patients' answers to their
preoperative questionnaire and the outcome of their surgery.
Such work will help inform clinical practice from the patient's
perspective and give direction on how to improve patient
health literacy and psychological states prior to surgery. Their
team was awarded an Honorable Mention for their work.
As Opemipo so eloquently put, " we as clinicians may shy
away from conducting research, but it is this research that will
govern our practice in the future. Evidence-based medicine
is essential for guiding and improving the field. " Preparing
for Poster Day gave the third-year students the opportunity
to build and apply their communication, collaboration, and
problem-solving skills to research that will have a significant
impact on the podiatric field.
As for how to get involved in research, Biao, Opemipo,
and Mohammed encourage students to join research clubs
at their school, talk to faculty to join their projects, and
reach out to upperclassmen currently doing research for
advice. Research is a great way to get more involved in the
field, prepare for residencies, and work on a topic you are
passionate about.
Footnotes Summer 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Footnotes Summer 2024
