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Talking with the patient

How to explain why antibiotics are not needed

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

MD / DOPANursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Patients often expect antibiotics for colds, sore throats and bronchitis. Explaining why they will not help protects the patient and slows resistance.

Step by step

  1. Listen to the concern

    Ask what worries them and what they hoped to get from the visit. [1]

  2. Share your findings

    Explain the exam in plain words, for example clear lungs and no signs of a bacterial infection. [1]

  3. Explain viruses and bacteria

    Antibiotics kill bacteria, not the viruses that cause colds and most bronchitis. [2]

  4. Mention the harms

    Antibiotics can cause diarrhea, allergic reactions and C. difficile infection, and they help resistant germs grow. [3]

  5. Give a symptom plan

    Rest, fluids, acetaminophen or ibuprofen if safe, and honey for cough in children over 1 year. [3]

  6. Say how long it lasts

    Explain that a cough after a cold can last up to 3 weeks. [1]

  7. Give return advice

    Come back for trouble breathing, high fever or symptoms that get worse or last longer than expected. [1]

  8. Use teach-back

    Ask the patient which signs would bring them back. [2]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

12 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  2. AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back)
  3. Open RN, Nursing Pharmacology 2e (CC BY 4.0)

Facts and steps follow AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs); AHRQ Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit (Teach-Back). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.