Principle 3: Provide Examples
Learning Objectives 1. Explain the difference between zero-shot, one-shot, and few-shot prompting. 2. Apply few-shot prompting to improve consistency in clinical documentation. 3. Design high-quality examples that match your hospital’s documentation standards. 4. Identify when too many examples harm output quality. |
What Is Provide Examples?
Provide Examples means giving the AI one or more correct, high-quality examples of the output you want before asking it to generate new content. This technique — also called few-shot prompting — dramatically improves consistency and quality, especially for repetitive clinical documentation tasks.
Shot Types Compared
Shot Type | What It Means | When to Use in Healthcare |
Zero-Shot | No example provided — AI uses general knowledge | New, one-off tasks; when no template exists yet |
One-Shot | 1 example provided before the task | Standardized forms where one template is enough (e.g., referral letters) |
Few-Shot (2–5) | 2–5 diverse examples before the task | Recurring tasks with variation (e.g., discharge summaries across diagnoses) |
Over-Sampled (10+) | Too many examples — limits flexibility | Avoid: AI loses ability to handle edge cases not in examples |
Real-Life Healthcare Example — Provide Examples
Maria Gonzalez (Patient Thread): Referral Letters Maria’s nephrologist needs a formal referral. You will build a few-shot prompt using examples from your hospital’s referral template library.
## Few shot (2 examples provided to the prompt) Example 1 (given to the prompt): Patient: A 55-year-old male with chronic back pain and bilateral leg numbness. Referral: Referred to Dr. Ahmad, Orthopedic Surgery, for evaluation of lumbar stenosis. Please review MRI results from 03/2025. Urgent: patient reports worsening leg weakness.
Example 2 (given to the prompt): Patient: A 48-year-old female with atrial fibrillation, uncontrolled on Metoprolol. Referral: Referred to Dr. Chen, Cardiology, for ECG evaluation and rhythm management review. Please review 14-day Holter monitor results attached.
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Now asking the prompt to generate a referral for Maria:Patient: Maria Gonzalez, 62-year-old female with CKD Stage 2 and T2DM (HbA1c 10.2%, eGFR 52). Referral needed to: Nephrology for kidney disease management and diabetic nephropathy evaluation.
Result: AI produces a referral in the exact style, length, and clinical language of your examples — matching City General Hospital’s documentation standards without manual editing. |