What questions do you ask for abdominal assessment?
Abdominal pain
- Does the patient use a single finger or spread the fingers and move the palm over much of the abdomen?
- What is the nature of the pain? Note body language.
- Are there any aggravating or relieving factors?
- How often is the pain felt and how long does it last?
- Is there radiation elsewhere?
How do you perform an abdominal assessment?
With abdominal assessment, you inspect first, then auscultate, percuss, and palpate. This order is different from the rest of the body systems, for which you inspect, then percuss, palpate, and auscultate.
What order do you assess the abdomen?
Assessing your patient’s abdomen can provide critical information about his internal organs. Always follow this sequence: inspection, auscultation, percussion, and palpation.
What should I ask a patient with abdominal pain?
5 Questions to Ask If You Have Stomach Pain
- Severity: Is the pain so severe that when it’s present, you can’t focus on or do other things?
- Vomiting: Are you also vomiting?
- Output: Okay, no one likes to talk about this, but I’m a doctor, so I have to ask.
- Other symptoms: Are you having difficulty breathing?
Is abdominal pain subjective or objective?
An example of this is a patient stating he has “stomach pain,” which is a symptom, documented under the subjective heading. Versus “abdominal tenderness to palpation,” an objective sign documented under the objective heading.
What must be kept in mind before abdominal assessment?
A long list of differential entities can be the cause of abdominal pain; these are well described in standard text books and recent reviews. Consequently, a complete history should be obtained, and a set of probable diagnostic possibilities should be entertained prior to starting the examination.
Why do you Percuss before palpation?
Percussion Percussion involves tapping your fingers or hands quickly and sharply against parts of the patient’s body to help you locate organ borders, identify organ shape and position, and determine if an organ is solid or filled with fluid or gas.
What is a focused abdominal assessment?
By asking specific questions about a patient’s gastrointestinal history and performing focused abdominal exam techniques for your adult patient, you will be able to assess for the slightest changes in gastrointestinal function. Alterations in your gastrointestinal assessment findings could indicate potential problems.