Writing good question-and-answer pairs.

When to write one

Question-and-answer pairs fill the gaps between your documents. Write one when patients regularly ask something your leaflets do not answer clearly, or when the answer is buried in a long document.

Write the question the way people ask it

Use the words patients actually use, not clinical terms. “Can I drive home after my scan?” works better than “Post-procedure driving restrictions”. If people ask the same thing in different ways, the agent can still match them, but start with the most common phrasing.

Keep the answer short and complete

One to three sentences is usually enough. Answer the question first, then add only what someone needs to act on it.

• Good: “No. You will have had sedation, so you cannot drive for 24 hours. Please arrange for someone to take you home.”
• Too long: a paragraph that repeats the whole leaflet.

Stay within your service

Answer as your service would, using your own arrangements. If the honest answer is “it depends on you”, say who to contact instead of guessing.

Review them like any other content

Pairs become passages, and they need your approval before the agent can use them. Read them back once more before you approve.