Acute Abdominal Pain

Abdominal pain can be a conundrum for any clinician in the ED. It is a diagnostic challenge because the examination is often non specific and atypical presentations abound among the vast differential diagnosis. Furthermore, although benign causes occur most frequently, life-threatening conditions need to be reasonably excluded.

	Intended Learning Outcomes
	The aim is to develop a safe approach to the initial assessment and management of patients presenting with acute abdominal pain. At the end of this attachment you should be able to Take a careful history and physical examination that considers the patient's age, sex, past medical and surgical history, and medications characterizes the pain Identify historical (including pain characteristic) and examination findings that suggest a high risk abdominal pain Describe the clinical findings associated with the more common dangerous causes of abdominal pain Develop a broad differential diagnosis that may include both abdominal and extra abdominal causes for the abdominal pain Select special investigations based on your differential diagnosis to help illicit the cause for the abdominal pain, and/or exclude dangerous differentials Suggest appropriate pain management for acute abdominal pain in the ED

Learning Resources

BMJ best practice (via University library): search "assessment of acute abdomen"
Dunn R, Dilley SJ. The Emergency Medicine Manual 4^th Ed. Chapter 11 Gastroenterology. Abdominal Pain.

Analgesia in Patients with Acute Abdominal Pain [view/annotate inline]

Manterola C, Vial M, Moraga J, Astudillo P. Analgesia in patients with acute abdominal pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2011, Issue 1.

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Acute Abdominal Pain

Intended Learning Outcomes

Learning Resources