To assess whether a patient in telehealth has GERD, what is the most important question to ask?

• A. Please describe your heartburn and tell me how often it occurs
• B. Do you have a history of ulcers
• C. What foods trigger your symptoms
• D. Do you take antacids regularly

Answer: (A)

In telehealth, the most reliable way to identify GERD is to focus on the patient’s hallmark symptom and how it behaves. Asking someone to describe their heartburn and tell you how often it occurs gets to the heart of the diagnosis: heartburn that is frequent, persistent, and bothersome is characteristic of GERD and helps gauge both the likelihood and the severity of the condition. This information also guides immediate management decisions and the need for further evaluation.

Other questions can be useful for planning treatment or ruling out alternatives, but they don’t establish the core diagnosis as directly. A history of ulcers doesn’t confirm GERD and may point to different GI issues; learning what foods trigger symptoms helps with management but doesn’t by itself diagnose GERD; asking about regular antacid use shows activity of symptoms but doesn’t prove GERD, and could be influenced by self-treatment.

So focusing on a detailed description of heartburn and its frequency provides the most direct, actionable evidence for assessing GERD in a telehealth visit.