Prompting well, and keeping patients out of the chatbot

A five-part prompt you can reuse, and a checker that catches names, phone numbers and UHIDs before you paste.

10 min

Most bad AI answers come from vague questions. A useful prompt names a role, one task, the facts needed, the format you want and the rules it must keep. Start from a template:

Role: who should the AI act as?

Task: one clear job

Context: the facts it needs (de-identified)

Format: how the answer should look

Rules: what it must not do

ROLE: You are a doctor explaining things to a patient with school-level education. TASK: Explain what a "fatty liver" finding on ultrasound means and what the patient should do next. CONTEXT: Adult, non-diabetic, BMI 29, alcohol intake nil. Liver function tests normal. FORMAT: Five short sentences. Then a list of 3 things to do. Avoid medical words; if you must use one, explain it. RULES: Do not suggest any medicine. Say clearly that this does not replace a consultation.

Three habits help more than any clever wording. Give it the source text (the guideline section, the abstract) and ask it to work only from that. Ask it to quote where each number came from. And ask it what is missing or uncertain.

Patient data and public chatbots

Free consumer chatbots may store what you type and, depending on settings and terms, use it to improve their models. India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 makes you, and your hospital, responsible for how patient data is handled; its rules were notified in November 2025 and most duties apply from May 2027. Strip identifiers before you paste, or use a tool your institution has approved.

Runs only in your browser; nothing is sent anywhere.

Name with title: Mrs Sunita PatilHospital number: UHID 2024/88123Date: 12/09/2026Phone number: 98220 12345PIN code: 411005

[NAME WITH TITLE], 54F, [HOSPITAL NUMBER], admitted [DATE] with fever. Husband phone [PHONE NUMBER]. Address: Shivaji Nagar, Pune [PIN CODE].

A pattern check catches the obvious; it will miss names written without a title and other clues. You remain responsible for what you paste.

Check yourself

1. Which addition most reduces invented numbers in a paper summary?

2. Before pasting a case into a consumer chatbot you should:

3. A good clinical prompt includes:

Educational material, not clinical advice. Interactive numbers are teaching examples unless a source is named.