Pre-visit briefs that make short slots feel longer
A complex patient arrives with years of chart history and outside records, and you have 15 minutes. Chart summarization is now one of the top physician AI uses (28% in the AMA survey), and EHR vendors are building it in — but a structured prompt over a de-identified chart extract gets an organized visit plan today, before your system rolls anything out.
You are helping me prepare for a clinic visit. Build a pre-visit brief from this de-identified chart extract. Visit reason: {{visit_reason}} Appointment length: {{visit_length}} Chart extract (problem list, medications, recent labs and notes — de-identified): {{chart_extract}} Format, one page maximum: 1. One-line patient snapshot (age band and key conditions, exactly as given). 2. Active problems ranked by what most needs attention today, one line each with the latest relevant data point. 3. Medication flags — anything in the extract suggesting nonadherence, duplication, interactions, or missing monitoring labs. Frame each as a question to verify, not a conclusion. 4. Gaps and overdue items explicitly documented in the extract (screenings, vaccines, labs). 5. Suggested visit agenda — the top 3 things to address in the time available, with a one-line rationale each. 6. Open questions — anything ambiguous or contradictory in the extract, marked [CLARIFY]. Rules: use only what is in the extract. Never infer diagnoses, results, or dates that are not written there. If the extract looks incomplete for the visit reason, say exactly what is missing instead of guessing.
Fill in your details and the prompt updates live — then copy.
Snapshot: Male, 70s — T2DM, HFrEF (EF 35%), CKD3a, AFib on anticoagulation. Top problems today: 1) HFrEF — 2kg weight gain since last visit; volume status check first. 2) T2DM — A1c 8.1, three months old. 3) CKD3a with K 5.1 — borderline on current regimen. Medication flags: K 5.1 on sacubitril/valsartan — recheck before any dose increase? Metformin dose appropriate at eGFR 48? Suggested agenda: volume exam and weight trend; repeat BMP and A1c today; medication review against potassium. [CLARIFY]: no documented date for last echo in extract.
The full workflow
- Export or copy the problem list, med list, and recent results — then strip every identifier and exact date
- Run the prompt the evening before or morning of clinic
- Verify each flagged item against the real chart — the brief organizes, the chart decides
- Use the agenda to open the visit, and adjust to what the patient actually came for
Watch out for
HIPAA: a full chart extract is the highest-risk paste there is. Use your health system's BAA-covered or EHR-integrated summarizer if one exists; otherwise de-identify aggressively — age bands, no dates, no locations.
Summaries silently drop things. The brief is a starting agenda, not a substitute for opening the chart — missed results in a summary you relied on are still your miss.
Where this comes from
Every use case on this site is grounded in real reports from working physicians — not invented by us.