EMT – Chapter 18

Commonly produces symptoms about 30 minutes after a particularly fatty meal and usually at night

Choleystitis

A 47-year-old male presents with severe abdominal pain of 3 hours’ duration. His abdomen is distended and guarded. Your MOST important consideration for this patient should be to:

Be alert for signs and symptoms of shock

Which of the following organs lies in the retroperitoneal space?

Pancreas

Your patient complains of chronic "burning" stomach pain that improves after eating. You should suspect:

Peptic ulcer disease

A young female presents with costovertebral angle tenderness. She is conscious and alert with stable vital signs. Which of the following organs is MOST likely causing her pain?>

Kidney

Most patients with abdominal pain prefer to:

Lie on their side with their knees drawn into the abdomen

A 30-year-old woman with a history of alcoholism presents with severe upper abdominal pain and is vomiting large amounts of bright red blood. Her skin is cool, pale, and clammy; her heart rate is 120 beats/min and weak; and her blood pressure is 70/50 mm Hg. Your MOST immediate action should be to:

Protect the airway from aspiration

___ occurs when there is excess pressure within the portal system and surrounding vessel and may lead to life threatening bleeding.

Esophageal varices

When assessing a patient with abdominal pain, you should:

Palpate the abdomen in a clockwise direction, beginning with the quadrant after the one the patient indicates is painful

You have been dispatched to the home of a 52-year-old woman with severe flank pain. Which of the following would be an appropriate question to ask regarding the pain?

Is the pain constant or intermittent?

When abdominal muscles become rigid in an effort to protect the abdomen from further irritation, this is referred to as:

guarding

Which of the following statements regarding dialysis is correct:

Patients who miss a dialysis treatment often present with weakness

Your patient complains of abdominal pain that occurs mostly at night or after eating fatty foods. You should suspect:

Cholecystitis

Pain that may be perceived at a distant point on the surface of the body, such as the back or shoulder, is called:

referred pain

An important aspect in the treatment of a patient with severe abdominal pain is to:

provide emotional support en route to the hospital

Which of the following statements regarding acute abdomen is correct:

The initial pain associated with an acute abdomen tends to be vague and poorly localized

A 59-year-old male presents with sudden-onset severe lower back pain. He is conscious and alert, but very restless and diaphoretic. Your assessment reveals a pulsating mass to the left of his umbilicus. You should:

Administer oxygen and prepare for immediate transport

For a patient with a gastrointestinal complaint, it is MOST important for the EMT to:

identify whether the patient requires rapid transportation

Which of the following is correct about the secondary assessment for a high priority patient:

You may not have time to complete a secondary assessment

A young female presents with costovertebral angle tenderness. She is conscious and alert with stable vital signs. Which of the following organs is MOST likely causing her pain

Kidney (Kidney infection)

Which of the following may help reduce your patient’s nausea:

low flow oxygen

Severe back pain may be associated with which of the following conditions?

Abdominal aortic aneurysm

Peritonitis may result in shock because:

fluid shifts from the bloodstream into the body tissues