Seven messages from the patient portal, overnight. Write the reply each one gets.
You are answering as clinical staff at a US primary care practice. You cannot examine anyone and you cannot see a chart beyond what is in the message.
[1] id=m1 "About 40 minutes ago I got the worst headache of my life. Came on all at once while I was lifting a box out of the trunk. I threw up twice and the light is killing me. I took some ibuprofen. Should I just lie down in the dark and see how it is in the morning?"
[2] id=m2 "My daughter is 6 weeks old. Her rectal temp is 100.6. She nursed okay an hour ago and she's sleeping now. Can I give her the infant Tylenol and bring her in Monday?"
[3] id=m3 "I'm 68. Yesterday afternoon my right eye went dark, like a curtain coming down from the top, for maybe 10 minutes. Then it was completely normal again and it hasn't happened since. I feel fine otherwise. Is this worth mentioning at my physical next month?"
[4] id=m4 "I take warfarin. Urgent care just gave me fluconazole for a yeast infection, one pill now and another in 3 days. Nobody there asked about my other medicines. Am I okay to take it?"
[5] id=m5 "Flew back from Tokyo on Tuesday. Since yesterday my left calf is swollen and sore and it feels warm to the touch. The right one is fine. No chest pain, breathing is normal. I've been wearing a compression sock and keeping it up. Anything else I should do?"
[6] id=m6 "Day 4 of runny nose, scratchy throat and a cough. No fever. I get like this every fall and amoxicillin always clears it up. Can you just send some to my pharmacy so I don't have to come in?"
[7] id=m7 "I'm 52 and I've never had a colonoscopy. Nobody in my family has had cancer that I know of and I feel fine. Should I be worried about this or is it something for later?"
Seven in, seven out, in the order given. Echo each id exactly.
urgency is exactly one of:
emergency — needs an emergency department today, by 911 or by carurgent — needs to be seen today, but a clinic visit will doroutine — schedule in the coming weeksselfcare — no visit needed unless something changesPick on where the patient needs to be, not on how alarming the message sounds. If the workup that cannot wait is only available in an emergency department, it is emergency, even when the patient currently feels well.
reply is the message the patient reads. Plain English at an eighth-grade reading level, under 120 words. Say what to do, when, and why, in that order. Explain any medical term you use. Do not open with an apology or a disclaimer.
Do not name a diagnosis as settled. You may name what you are ruling out and why it cannot wait.
If the patient asked for something they should not have, say no and say what to do instead. Do not agree to be agreeable.
redFlags is an array of the specific things in the message that set the urgency. Empty array if none.
note is yours, and the patient does not see it. Use it for the caveat, what you would want from the chart, or the point you would raise if a colleague pushed back. One or two sentences. Leave it as an empty string if you have nothing to add.
No web lookups. Answer from what you know.
Raw JSON, nothing else. No markdown fence, no preamble, no commentary after.
{
"rows": [
{ "id": "...", "urgency": "...", "reply": "...", "redFlags": ["..."], "note": "..." }
]
}
Keys in that order.
{ "rows": [ { "id": "m1", "urgency": "emergency", "reply": "Call 911 now. Do not drive yourself or wait until morning. A sudden, worst-ever headache during lifting, especially with vomiting, can signal bleeding around the brain. This needs emergency testing even if the pain starts to improve. Do not take more ibuprofen or aspirin while waiting for help.", "redFlags": [ "Worst headache of life", "Sudden onset during lifting about 40 minutes ago", "Vomited twice", "Severe light sensitivity" ], "note": "Needs immediate evaluation for subarachnoid hemorrhage and other causes of thunderclap headache. Improvement after pain medicine would not lower the urgency." }, { "id": "m2", "urgency": "emergency", "reply": "Take your daughter to an emergency department now; do not wait until Monday or give Tylenol to see whether the fever goes away. At 6 weeks old, a rectal temperature of 100.4°F or higher needs prompt testing for a serious infection, even when a baby feeds and seems comfortable. Ask the emergency clinician before giving fever medicine. If she is hard to wake, has trouble breathing, or looks blue, call 911.", "redFlags": [ "Infant is 6 weeks old", "Rectal temperature of 100.6°F" ], "note": "A well-appearing infant this age still needs an age-specific febrile-infant evaluation; feeding normally does not exclude invasive infection." }, { "id": "m3", "urgency": "emergency", "reply": "Go to an emergency department today, as soon as possible; have someone else drive. Do not wait for your physical. A temporary curtain of darkness over one eye can mean that blood flow to the eye was briefly blocked. This can warn of a stroke, even after vision returns completely. Other serious eye problems also need to be checked. If vision loss returns, or you develop weakness, facial drooping, or trouble speaking, call 911.", "redFlags": [ "Sudden curtain-like loss of vision in the right eye", "Episode lasted about 10 minutes yesterday", "Age 68" ], "note": "Transient monocular vision loss warrants emergency retinal ischemia/TIA evaluation despite complete recovery. A routine eye appointment alone is not an adequate disposition." }, { "id": "m4", "urgency": "urgent", "reply": "Do not take the fluconazole until the interaction has been reviewed. Arrange a same-day medication review with our clinic or the clinician who manages your warfarin. Fluconazole can increase warfarin’s effect and cause dangerous bleeding, even with a short course. We need a safer treatment choice or a plan for blood testing and any dose changes. Do not stop or change warfarin yourself. If you already took fluconazole, tell us today. Go to the emergency department for uncontrolled bleeding, black stools, vomiting blood, or a sudden severe headache.", "redFlags": [ "Taking warfarin", "New fluconazole prescription with a second dose planned", "Other medicines were not reviewed" ], "note": "Confirm whether fluconazole was taken, the infection site, warfarin indication and dose, and recent INR. If fluconazole is used, coordinate early and follow-up INR monitoring because the interaction can persist after dosing." }, { "id": "m5", "urgency": "urgent", "reply": "Call our clinic now for an examination today and help arranging an ultrasound, a scan that checks blood flow. If we cannot arrange the needed testing today, go to an emergency department today. Swelling, soreness, and warmth in just one calf after a long flight can mean a blood clot in a deep leg vein. A clot can travel to the lungs, so a compression sock and elevation are not enough. If you develop chest pain, shortness of breath, coughing blood, or fainting, call 911.", "redFlags": [ "Recent long flight from Tokyo", "New swelling and soreness in only the left calf", "Affected calf feels warm" ], "note": "Urgent outpatient evaluation is appropriate only with a reliable same-day diagnostic pathway for suspected DVT. If that access is unavailable, the destination becomes the emergency department; absence of chest symptoms does not exclude a leg clot." }, { "id": "m6", "urgency": "selfcare", "reply": "No—we should not prescribe amoxicillin for these symptoms. For now, rest, drink fluids, and try saline nasal spray and honey for the cough. Four days of runny nose, scratchy throat, and cough without fever is more often from a virus or allergies. Antibiotics do not treat either and can cause diarrhea, allergic reactions, and harder-to-treat infections. Consider a COVID test. Contact us if symptoms last more than 10 days without improvement, worsen after improving, or you develop fever. Seek urgent care for trouble breathing or chest pain.", "redFlags": [], "note": "Would check for immune suppression, chronic lung disease, and risk factors for severe COVID, which could change testing and treatment timing. Past improvement with amoxicillin does not establish a bacterial cause." }, { "id": "m7", "urgency": "routine", "reply": "Schedule a visit in the coming weeks to choose a colon cancer screening test; do not put it off for years. Screening means checking for cancer or growths before symptoms start. For most adults, it begins at age 45, even without a family history. At 52, you are due if you have not had another screening test. Options include a yearly home stool test or a colonoscopy, a camera exam of the colon usually repeated every 10 years if normal. A positive stool test needs a colonoscopy. This is prevention, not a sign that you have cancer.", "redFlags": [], "note": "Confirm prior stool-based screening, personal polyp history, inflammatory bowel disease, and the fuller family history before treating as average risk. Bleeding, unexplained weight loss, or iron-deficiency anemia would require diagnostic evaluation rather than routine screening." } ] }