Clinical Decision Rules in the Evaluation and Management of Adult Gastrointestinal Emergencies

Link to article at PubMed

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2021 Nov;39(4):719-732. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2021.07.001. Epub 2021 Sep 10.

ABSTRACT

Although abdominal pain is a common chief complaint in the emergency department, only 1 in 6 patients with abdominal pain are diagnosed with a gastrointestinal (GI) emergency. These patients often undergo extensive testing as well as hospitalizations to rule out an acute GI emergency and there is evidence that not all patients benefit from such management. Several clinical decision rules (CDRs) have been developed for the diagnosis and management of patients with suspected acute appendicitis and upper GI bleeding to identify those patients who may safely forgo further testing or hospital admission. Further validation studies demonstrating the superiority of these CDRs over contemporary practice are needed.

PMID:34600633 | DOI:10.1016/j.emc.2021.07.001

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