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Patient interview

How to interview a patient with palpitations

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

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

Palpitations are common and usually harmless, but fainting, chest pain or heart disease change the picture.

Step by step

  1. Check stability

    Take the pulse and blood pressure first. Chest pain, low blood pressure or confusion means call for help and get an ECG. [1]

  2. Introduce yourself and get consent

    Explain that you will ask about the heartbeat. [2]

  3. What do they feel?

    Ask them to tap the rhythm on the table: fast and regular, fast and irregular, or skipped beats. [3]

  4. Onset and duration

    Sudden start and stop, how long, how often, and what they do to stop it. [3]

  5. Triggers

    Exercise, caffeine, alcohol, stress, decongestants, stimulants, thyroid pills. [1]

  6. Warning symptoms

    Fainting, chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations during exercise. [1]

  7. History

    Heart disease, thyroid problems, anemia, and family history of sudden death or inherited heart rhythm problems. [1]

  8. Summarize and plan

    Explain the next step, often an ECG and blood tests. [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. NCCPA PANCE Content Blueprint
  2. AAMC Core Entrustable Professional Activities (Core EPAs)
  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.