How to interview a patient with diarrhea
Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.
Most acute diarrhea is infection and gets better on its own. Blood, fever, dehydration and recent antibiotics change that.
Step by step
Protect others
Clean your hands and use contact precautions if infection is likely. [1]
Duration
Acute (under 2 weeks) or longer. [2]
Stool details
How many times a day, watery or bloody, at night, urgency. [2]
Associated symptoms
Fever, belly pain, vomiting, weight loss. [3]
Exposures
Travel, food, sick contacts, daycare, camping water. [3]
Antibiotics and hospital
Recent antibiotics or hospital stays raise concern for C. difficile. [3]
Dehydration
Thirst, dizziness, little urine, dry mouth. [3]
Summarize and plan
Explain fluids, warning signs and tests if needed. [4]
Common errors
- Not asking about recent antibiotics.
- Missing blood in the stool.
- No dehydration check.
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
- Child with diarrhea and dehydration
- Fecal impaction
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Mesenteric ischemia
- Toxic megacolon
19 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library
Sources
- CDC, Guideline for Isolation Precautions (2007) and PPE sequence
- NBOME COMLEX-USA clinical presentations
- NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
- AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
Facts and steps follow NBOME COMLEX-USA clinical presentations; NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint; AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs). Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.