Prompt: Immunotherapy Patient Information Sheet

Immunotherapy Patient Information Sheet

Use this prompt to draft a patient information sheet about immunotherapy for a patient who is starting treatment and may not have a clear understanding of how it differs from chemotherapy.

Write a patient information sheet about immunotherapy for a patient aged 
[[patient_age — e.g. "55"]] who is starting immunotherapy treatment for 
[[cancer_type — e.g. "melanoma"]]. The patient has previously had chemotherapy 
and may assume immunotherapy works in the same way.

The sheet should cover:
- What immunotherapy is, in plain English (explain that it works by helping 
  the body's own immune system rather than directly targeting cancer cells)
- How it is different from chemotherapy
- The types of side effects to be aware of — specifically that immune-related 
  side effects can affect different body systems and may appear at any time 
  during or after treatment
- The importance of reporting new symptoms promptly, and not assuming they 
  are unrelated to treatment
- A note that most people tolerate the treatment well, but that individual 
  experiences vary

Do not include specific drug names, doses, or clinical decision thresholds.
Tone: calm, informative, and honest about the need for prompt reporting 
without being alarming. Maximum 450 words.

Why this works

Explicitly addressing the comparison with chemotherapy prevents a common misunderstanding — patients who have had chemotherapy sometimes assume immunotherapy will feel the same and apply the same mental model to managing side effects. That assumption can lead to late reporting of immune-related reactions. The prompt builds this clarification into the document from the start.

How to tweak it

• To add information about the treatment schedule, include: "Also describe what a typical treatment schedule looks like — infusions [[frequency — e.g. 'every 3 weeks']], how long each infusion takes, and that monitoring blood tests are part of the routine."
• To simplify for a patient with low health literacy, add: "Use the simplest possible language. Aim for short sentences and no medical terminology. If a medical term must appear, define it immediately in plain English."

Remember: AI is a helpful assistant, not a clinician. You make the call.