Question

A 28-year-old woman has severe lower quadrant abdominal pain. When assessing her abdomen, you should:

a) Start with palpation in the painful area
b) Begin with deep palpation
c) Use percussion to assess tenderness
d) Start with light palpation away from the painful area

Answer 1

For a woman with severe lower quadrant abdominal pain, start with light palpation away from the painful area, then proceed carefully to the painful quadrant. This helps in diagnosing conditions affecting the abdominopelvic regions without causing additional discomfort.

Step-by-step explanation:

When assessing a 28-year-old woman with severe lower quadrant abdominal pain, you should start with light palpation away from the painful area. This approach helps to prevent causing additional discomfort and allows for gradual determination of the pain's nature and exact location. Once the non-painful quadrants have been gently assessed, you can carefully proceed to examine the painful area with light palpation first, escalating to deeper palpation only if necessary and tolerable. This method is a part of the physical examination procedure used to assess potential causes such as appendicitis, a urinary tract infection (UTI), pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), or other conditions affecting the abdominopelvic regions.