Introduction to Prompt Engineering for Medical Doctors
Prompt engineering is the art and science of crafting clear, targeted questions or instructions (“prompts”) for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, to obtain useful, accurate responses. In clinical practice, well-designed prompts can help doctors:
Summarize complex patient information
Generate differential diagnoses
Draft patient communications
Clarify guidelines and literature
Educate patients in accessible language
Why Does Prompt Engineering Matter for Doctors?
Quality: The precision of AI’s answers relies on the clarity of your prompt.
Efficiency: Well-structured prompts save you time and reduce confusion.
Safety: Clear prompts help ensure safe, relevant, and evidence-based information.
1. Basic Principles of Effective Prompts
Be Specific: Include details like age, gender, history, symptoms, and results. Example: "A 35-year-old non-smoking woman with a dry cough for 3 weeks, no fever, normal chest X-ray: what are the likely causes?"
Give Clinical Context: Add relevant history and findings. Example: "List likely causes of sudden-onset chest pain in a 58-year-old male with hypertension and hyperlipidemia."
Request a Format: Specify if you want a list, summary, table, or plain language.
Ask for Evidence (if needed): Request references or guideline summaries for up-to-date answers.
2. Real-World Medical Prompt Examples
Clinical Decision Support: "A 75-year-old male with confusion, fever, and productive cough. Past medical history: diabetes, COPD. List the most likely diagnoses and suggest first-line investigations."
Discharge Summary: "Draft a concise discharge summary for a 60-year-old woman admitted with community-acquired pneumonia, treated with IV antibiotics and improved. Past medical history: hypertension. Include hospital course and discharge medications."
Patient Education: "Write a simple explanation for a patient newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Use language suitable for a 12-year-old."
Guideline Summary: "Summarize the 2023 ADA guidelines for starting insulin in type 2 diabetes. Focus on initial regimens and titration."
Compare Options: "List pros and cons of warfarin vs DOACs for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation."
3. Common Prompt Mistakes to Avoid
Being too vague (“Tell me about diabetes”)
Omitting important context (missing age, comorbidities, test results)
Combining multiple unrelated questions in one prompt
Not specifying desired format or level of detail
4. Advanced Prompting Techniques
Role Assignment:“Act as a cardiologist. Explain the rationale for dual antiplatelet therapy after stenting.”
Stepwise Reasoning:“List the steps to diagnose DKA in a diabetic patient with vomiting and abdominal pain.”
Follow-Up Prompts:“Expand on the management of electrolyte abnormalities in this case.”
5. Practice Prompts for Doctors
Try rewriting these for greater clarity:
“Causes of abdominal pain.” Improved: “List common causes of acute abdominal pain in a 40-year-old woman with no prior surgeries, presenting with right lower quadrant tenderness.”
“Treatment of heart failure.” Improved: “Summarize initial therapy for newly diagnosed HFrEF in a 65-year-old man with stage 3 CKD.”
“Explain hypertension.” Improved: “Write a plain-language explanation of high blood pressure for a patient, including why treatment is important.”
6. Quick Reference Table
Prompt Element
Example
Specificity
“In a 60-year-old male with cough and hemoptysis, what are key causes?”
