This time we’ll be looking at abdominal pain

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Watch the SEMEP video and answer the questions below. 

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A few notes not covered in the video:

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• Of note when he says that everyone should have a blood gas, then a venous gas is absolutely fine. Ultimately what we want is a lactate and there is minimal difference between an arterial and a venous gas

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• All women of childbearing age with abdo pain have a urinary pregnancy test performed. Ectopic pregnancy remains a life-threatening cause of abdo pain and we can’t diagnose it unless we know they’re pregnant. This is a recurring pit fall for junior doctors working in the ED.