“How is severe abdominal pain evaluated and managed in the ER?”

Very common complaint in the ER is abdominal pain and it’s also one of the hardest to figure out. The ER looks for emergencies. It rules out anything that may pose imminent risk or threat to one’s life or safety. It is not the place to get a diagnosis. The longer something has been going on the less likely the ER is going to figure it out. If you have recurrent abdominal pain, that has been going on for quite some time, the er most likely isn’t the place to search for a diagnosis. Labs and imaging are examples of interventions that most likely will be performed to rule out those things that require immediate attention such as diagnosing appendicitis in a pediatric patient. We want to prevent possible rupture by detecting early on ultrasound/possible secondary imaging, prep for surgery and start iv antibiotics. Another example might be ovarian torsion for females experiencing acute pelvic pain/discomfort, and testicular torsion for males as lower quadrant abdominal pain can be a cause of testicular torsion which requires immediate detection and intervention

As with all conditions evaluated by medical caregivers, the first step is to conduct a history to gather details about the chief complaint, which in this case is pain. Then a physical exam is performed. After this, a number of diagnoses may be considered to explain the pain and a decision is made on what diagnostic testing would help confirm a diagnosis.