NURS 6512 Week 6: Assessment of the Abdomen and Gastrointestinal System
On your way home from dinner, you start experiencing sharp pains in your abdomen. You ate seafood—could you have food poisoning? What else might be causing your pain? Appendicitis? Should you head to the emergency room, or should you wait and see how you feel in the morning?
Numerous ailments can affect the GI system and the abdomen. Because the organs are so close, it can be difficult to conduct an accurate assessment. Also, pain in another area of the body can affect the GI system. For example, patients with chronic migraines often report nausea.
This week, you will explore how to assess the abdomen and gastrointestinal system.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Evaluate abnormal abdomen and gastrointestinal findings
- Apply concepts, theories, and principles relating to health assessment techniques and diagnoses for the abdomen and gastrointestinal system
- Identify concepts, theories, and principles related to advanced health assessment
Learning Resources
- Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2019). Seidel’s guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
- Chapter 6, “Vital Signs and Pain Assessment”: This chapter describes the experience of pain and its causes. The authors also describe the process of pain assessment.
- Chapter 18, “Abdomen”: In this chapter, the authors summarize the anatomy and physiology of the abdomen.
- Chapter 3, “Abdominal Pain”: This chapter outlines how to collect a focused history on abdominal pain. This is followed by what to look for in a physical examination in order to make an accurate diagnosis.
- Chapter 10, “Constipation”: The focus of this chapter is on identifying the causes of constipation through taking a focused history, conducting physical examinations, and performing laboratory tests.
- Chapter 12, “Diarrhea”: In this chapter, the authors focus on diagnosing the cause of diarrhea. The chapter includes questions to ask patients about the condition, things to look for in a physical exam, and suggested laboratory or diagnostic studies to perform.
These sections below explain the procedural knowledge needed to perform gastrointestinal procedures.
- Chapter 107, “X-Ray Interpretation: Chest (pp. 480–487)
- Chapter 115, “X-Ray Interpretation of Abdomen” (pp. 514–520)
Note: Download this Student Checklist and Abdomen Key Points to use during your practice abdominal examination.
- Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2019). Abdomen: Student checklist. In Seidel’s guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (9th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.
- Document: Midterm Exam Review (Word document)
Assessment of the Abdomen and Gastrointestinal System – Week 6 (14m)
Online media for Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination
It is highly recommended that you access and view the resources included with the course text, Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination. Focus on the videos and animations in Chapter 17 that relate to the assessment of the abdomen and gastrointestinal system. Refer to Week 4 for access instructions on https://evolve.elsevier.com/
