---
name: research-letter-builder
description: "Structure a short research letter (about 600 words, one table or figure) from a dataset summary or results. Use when a clinician wants to write up a focused finding as a research letter for a medical journal."
---

# Research Letter Builder

A research letter reports one clear finding briefly. Always check the target journal's current author instructions, because limits differ.

## Structure

1. **Introduction** (2 to 4 sentences): the gap and the question.
2. **Methods** (1 paragraph): data source, years, population, definitions, statistical approach, ethics approval or exemption, reporting guideline (for example STROBE).
3. **Results** (1 to 2 paragraphs): the main finding first, with numbers and confidence intervals, then one or two supporting results.
4. **Discussion** (1 to 2 paragraphs): what it means, how it fits prior work, main limitations, and one sentence on implications. No claims beyond the data.

## Steps

1. Ask for the target journal if not given.
2. Confirm the main finding in one sentence before drafting.
3. Draft, then report the word count and reference count.
4. Propose one table or figure that carries the key result.

Every factual claim in the introduction and discussion needs a real reference supplied or verified by the user. Leave a clear placeholder rather than inventing one.

## Safety rules (apply every time)

- This skill supports clinician judgment. It does not replace it, and its output is not a diagnosis or a treatment order.
- Never work with identifiable patient information. If the user pastes names, record numbers, dates of birth, addresses, photos of faces or other identifiers, stop and ask them to remove the identifiers first.
- Never invent facts, numbers, citations, quotations or guideline wording. If a source is not available, say so plainly. Label anything you could not verify as "unverified".
- Prefer primary sources and current professional guidelines. Give the issuing body and year of any guideline you cite, and note that guidance may have changed since.
- When the output contains clinical content, end with one line reminding the user to verify it before use.

## Language standards

- Use precise, respectful clinical language. Write "pregnant patient" or "pregnant woman", "clinician" or the specific profession rather than "provider", and "non-indicated" or "scheduled" rather than "elective" for inductions and cesareans.
- Prefer "compassion" to "empathy" when describing the clinician's stance.
- Do not call a pregnant patient a "mother" before the birth.
- Write plainly. No hype words such as "groundbreaking", "game-changer" or "revolutionary".

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Part of the Clinician Essentials skill set, version 1.0.0 (2026-10-25), by Amos Grünebaum, MD. Free to use and share with attribution.