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Patient interview

How to interview a patient with jaundice

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

MD / DOPA
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Jaundice comes from before, inside or after the liver. Urine and stool color and the presence of pain point to which one.

Step by step

  1. Introduce yourself and get consent

    Look at the whites of the eyes in good light. [1]

  2. Onset

    When the yellow color appeared, sudden or slow. [2]

  3. Urine and stool

    Dark urine and pale stools suggest a blockage of bile flow. [2]

  4. Pain and fever

    Right upper belly pain with fever suggests infection of the bile ducts: urgent. [3]

  5. Itching and weight

    Itching, weight loss and painless jaundice raise concern for a tumor. [3]

  6. Liver risk factors

    Alcohol, injection drug use, transfusions, tattoos, sexual history, travel, hepatitis vaccines. [3]

  7. Medicines

    Acetaminophen (amount), antibiotics, herbal products and any new medicine. [3]

  8. Summarize and plan

    Explain the blood tests and imaging that come next. [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

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

Sources

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

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.