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Patient interview

How to interview a patient with heartburn

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

Heartburn is common, but heart pain can feel the same. Rule it out first, then look for alarm symptoms.

Step by step

  1. Introduce yourself and get consent

    Ask the patient to point where they feel it. [1]

  2. Rule out the heart

    Pain with exertion, sweating, breathlessness or heart risk factors: treat as chest pain first. [2]

  3. Pattern

    Burning behind the breastbone after meals or lying down, sour taste. [3]

  4. Triggers

    Large or late meals, fatty food, alcohol, coffee, smoking, some medicines. [2]

  5. Alarm symptoms

    Trouble swallowing, weight loss, vomiting blood, black stools, anemia, new symptoms after 60. [2]

  6. Medicines

    Anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin, and what they have tried for relief. [2]

  7. Summarize and plan

    Explain lifestyle steps, treatment and when tests are needed. [1]

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

Sources

  1. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  2. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  3. NBOME COMLEX-USA clinical presentations

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.