Clinical Medicine - Abdomen (Lab Portion) Flashcards
Abdominal exam is done in the following order:
- Inspection
- Ausculation
- Percussion
- Palpation
Very important for OSCE!
The patient should be in what anatomical position when doing an abdominal exam?
Supine
The two main points to make sure you do when inspecting are:
- Verbalize what you see
- Drape properly (life up shirt to bra line/rib area and tuck drape into pants)
What is the proper way to verbalize your findings on the inspection portion of the exam?
“I see no scars, masses, discoloration, bruising, ascites”
You could potentially see positive Cullen’s sign/Grey-Turner’s sign or Linea Nigra
For auscultation portion of the exam, you listen to all 4 quadrants with what portion of the stethoscope?
The Diaphragm
For aortic bruits, you would use what portion of the stethoscope and where would these typically be found?
- The bell
- Left Upper Quadrant
For the percussion portion of the abdominal exam, you don’t want to hear a large area of dullness unless you are percussing over what two structures?
- Liver
- Spleen
See organ placement diagram
When percussing, what tells you that there is no sign of spleenomegaly?
You will hear tympany
You will go to anterior axillary line along last intercostal space - make sure they hold their breath in between
When you are palpating, you are doing so to elicit what?
PAIN
Make sure to do all four quadrants and do light + deep palpation
If the right upper quadrant is painful to palpation, that could be due to…(try to name 2-3 of them)
- Liver pain
- hepatitis
- gallbladder pain
- part of pancreas
- transverse colon spans both RUQ and LUQ
If the left upper quadrant is painful to palpation, that could be due to…(try to name 2-3 of them)
- Stomach
- Spleen
- Rest of pancreas
- transverse colon spans both RUQ and LUQ
What organ is in both lower quadrants?
Small Intestine
What part of the colon is in the RLQ?
Ascending Colon
What part(s) of the colon is in the LLQ?
- Descending Colon
- Sigmoid Colon
If the patient describes burning in the upper quadrants, you will want to think what?
Ulcers (duodenal in RUQ or gastric in LUQ)