Clinic Protocol Structured Response

Clinic Protocol → Structured JSON Response

These tasks give you (1) a prompt naming a target case and a decision to make, (2) a runtime clinic environment plus a separately listed access description for that run, and (3) an answer_template.json (usually under input/payloads/). Your job is to read the record and the governing protocol, apply the protocol's rules to the case data, and return exactly one JSON object that conforms to the template.

The template is authoritative for structure; the protocol is authoritative for clinical logic; the case record is the ground truth. Nothing else is.

Workflow

1. Read all three inputs first. Parse the prompt (what decision, which target case id, any hard constraints like "do not mutate / do not place orders"), the answer_template.json (required keys, enums, types, nullability, precision, ordering rules), and the run's environment-access description. Use only the resources/access that description lists for this run; if it names allowed resources, treat anything not listed as unavailable. If some listed access returns an error or demands a credential you were not given, do not depend on it — get what you need from the resources that do work.

2. Retrieve the target case as a consolidated record, then the applicable protocol. Pull the target case by its id (this usually returns a bundle: case, patient, findings, observations, medications, allergies, problems, imaging, registry, SDOH). Fetch the protocol whose scope matches the case type; its body carries the thresholds, controlled codes, status rules, and decision branches you must apply. Read-only always — never write or place orders.

3. Scope and filter the data before reasoning:

   • Patient scope: keep only records for the target patient. A record attached to the case but carrying a different patient id is out of scope entirely — it is neither a match nor an in-scope distractor.
   • Status: honor the protocol's authoritative statuses (typically final only). Treat preliminary, entered-in-error, canceled as non-authoritative.
   • Code: match the exact controlled code from the protocol. Look-alikes are traps — e.g. a serum analyte code differs from the whole-blood/point-of-care code for the same substance, and a neighboring analyte in the same panel/month is a different code.
   • Time window: apply the stated window with its stated boundary semantics (commonly inclusive start, exclusive end). "Latest" means the maximum effective_time among the records that survive all filters.

4. Apply the protocol's decision logic literally. Map each protocol threshold / trigger to the corresponding template field. Escalation/urgent branches are usually OR-logic over several conditions — evaluate every condition against the data, not just the obvious one. Compute any numeric outputs with the protocol's own formula and rounding rule. Pull controlled identifiers (NDC, LOINC, test codes) straight from the protocol's controlled-codes map rather than inventing them. Choose the highest-severity route that the data actually supports; when no trigger fires, take the routine/outpatient branch.

5. Fill the template exactly, then self-check against every rule in the template (see references/field-checklist.md).

Reasoning rules that transfer across these tasks

• The primary assessment / classification is the pivotal field. Match it to the protocol's own supported terminology and to explicit observations (e.g. an observation stating an event's absence supports a "without-…" classification). Prefer the most specific enum value the data justifies; if the protocol lists the criteria that "support" a classification and they are met, that classification is usually the intended one.

• List/set fields are scored as sets and usually need to be exact — both a missing supported item and an added unsupported item cost you. Include an item only when the record clearly supports it right now; drop plausible-but-unstated ones. Watch for deliberate distractors placed in the bundle.

• Distinguish current state from forward-looking watch-lists. "Red flags / findings" mean things objectively present at this encounter. "Return precautions / escalation conditions / monitoring" mean things to watch for later — a presenting symptom (e.g. fever, a stable headache) belongs on the watch-list, not necessarily on the current-findings list. Derive return-precaution/monitoring sets from the protocol's own code list, mapped to the template's enum.

• Allergy-aware medication choice: use only active allergies, avoid every implicated drug class, and select an alternative from a non-contraindicated class; list the classes to avoid from the active allergies (not inactive ones).

• Absence / not-assessed ≠ false-negative. Only assert something is absent when the record actually documents it as absent. If a finding was never assessed, do not claim it either way — that is exactly what the "safety-check" booleans guard.

• Safety-check booleans assert you did not make an unsupported claim (no contraindicated drug class prescribed; no claiming imaging/exam normal when it is abnormal or was not done). They are true when your answer honors the guard.

Output discipline

• Emit one JSON object with exactly the required keys — no extra top-level keys, no markdown, no comments, no prose around it.
• Copy required constant values (task id, case id, and any expected_constant / required_value) verbatim from the template/prompt. Use the patient id exactly as it appears in the record.
• Honor declared types, enums, nullability, and numeric precision (decimal places, integer-only, "null only where permitted"). Timestamps: ISO-8601 UTC with a trailing Z; scheduled follow-up times are exact — resolve relative phrasing ("next morning") to the next calendar day at a clinic morning hour.
• Honor any ordering rule a field states (e.g. effective_time ascending then id ascending; case id first; descending relevance); where a field says order is not meaningful, order does not matter but membership still does.

See references/field-checklist.md for the pre-submission checklist and the common distractor catalog.