Gastrointestinal pain: Diagnosis, assessment, and treatment report

This report focuses on the diagnosis and assessment of gastrointestinal pain, exploring potential causes such as appendicitis, and other conditions like pancreatitis and inflammatory bowel disease. The report discusses the assessment findings, including the importance of auscultation and palpation in determining the presence of tenderness and inflammation. It differentiates between normal and abnormal findings, highlighting the significance of bowel sounds and the potential for infections, blockages, or cancerous infections within the gastrointestinal tract. The report also references relevant literature to support the findings and recommendations, providing a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Running head: GASTROINTESTINAL 1
Gastrointestinal
Name
Date of Submission

GASTROINTESTINAL 2
Differential diagnosis
Gastric dilation- occurs due to accumulation of food and gas in the stomach causing pain.
Pancreatitis- this is the inflammation of the pancreas (an organ that sits behind the
stomach) and causes abdominal pain in the upper and back part which becomes worse after
eating (Heshin-Bekenstein & Hashkes, 2015).
Inflammatory bowel disease- a group of disorders such as ulcerative colitis that causes
inflammation of the colon and development of ulcers in the colon. Such ulcers could cause
abdominal pain as this patient is reporting.
Appendicitis- inflammation of the appendix and the abdominal pain increases as it moves
downwards in the gastrointestinal tract.
Large bowel obstruction – This is the dilation of the colon due to inflammations or
impact of the fecal matter in the colon leading to persistent abdominal pain.
Final diagnosis
The final diagnosis of this condition is that it is an acute gastrointestinal pain resulting
from appendicitis. The final diagnosis will involve performing a blood test whereby high
concentrations of white blood cells indicates infections. Moreover, imaging tests like X-rays or
abdominal ultrasound that confirms appendicitis.
Assessment findings
Possibilities of infections, blockage by the feces or other foreign materials and cancerous
infections leading to inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract and abdomen (Udoh et al., 2016).

GASTROINTESTINAL 3
Auscultation findings
Normal vs abnormal
During abdomen palpations, the nurse aims at determining the possibility of tenderness
and hence inflammation around the abdomen. The liver and kidneys can be palpated in normal
people, but presence of palpation in any other organs or masses is considered abnormal. The
abdomen is auscultated to detect possible unusual bowel sounds. During normal gut peristalsis,
there are normal bowel sound that are created. On the other hand, when there a person is
diseased, the normal bowel sounds are absent.

GASTROINTESTINAL 4
References
Heshin-Bekenstein, M., & Hashkes, P. J. (2015). Intestinal malrotation as a misdiagnosis of
pediatric colchicine resistant familial Mediterranean fever. Pediatric Rheumatology,
13(1), 45.
Udoh, E., Devanarayana, N. M., Rajindrajith, S., Meremikwu, M., & Benninga, M. A. (2016).
Abdominal pain-predominant functional gastrointestinal disorders in adolescent
Nigerians. Journal of pediatric gastroenterology and nutrition, 62(4), 588-593.