Abdominal Examination Essentials

Clinical reasoning and examination

Video course

by Olutayo A. Sogunro, DO FACS FACOS

Performing a great abdominal exam is a vital aspect of clinical practice. In this course, you’ll learn special techniques for evaluating the abdomen and how to correlate exam findings with relevant anatomy. You’ll learn the differential diagnoses associated with different regions of the abdomen and confidently refer symptomatic patients for further testing or therapeutic interventions.

1h 55m

6 Quizzes

3 CME

What’s in it for you?

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After completing this course, you will be able to

Take a great abdominal history
Prepare a patient for the abdominal exam
Determine how to inspect, auscultate, and percuss the abdomen
Master palpation of the abdomen
Perform special exams
Correlate findings to relevant anatomy and differential diagnoses
Identify a true surgical abdomen
Determine the nuances in the abdominal exam of children and elderly patients

What's inside

Free

Chapter 1

What to do before the abdominal exam begins

In this chapter, you will learn how to prepare a patient for an abdominal exam, know which questions to ask, and how to overcome doctor-patient differences.

6 lessons

28m

What to do before the abdominal exam begins intro

Obtaining a detailed history of present illness

Obtaining a detailed history of gastrointestinal symptoms

Determining pertinent historical questions

Preparing a patient for physical exam

Bridging doctor-patient differences

What to do before the abdominal exam begins quiz

Quiz

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Free

Chapter 2

Inspection, auscultation, and percussion

In this chapter, you will learn how to perform three essential components of the abdominal exam.

4 lessons

18m

Inspection, auscultation, and percussion intro

Recognizing the components of the abdominal exam

Auscultating the abdomen

Percussing the abdomen

Inspection, auscultation, and percussion quiz

Quiz

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Chapter 3

Palpation of the abdomen

In this chapter, you will learn the proper hand placement and sequence of palpation, how to palpate the main gastrointestinal organs, and how to interpret the exam findings.

5 lessons

17m

Palpation of the abdomen intro

Organizing the anatomical regions of the abdomen

Demonstrating the essentials of abdominal palpation

Examining the abdomen with palpation

Creating a differential diagnosis based on anatomical location

Palpation of the abdomen quiz

Quiz

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Chapter 4

Focusing on specific parts of the abdominal exam

Here, you will learn how to perform specific and more focused variations of the abdominal exam, such as examining the acute abdomen, inguinal examination, and more.

6 lessons

19m

Focusing on specific parts of the abdominal exam intro

Recognizing an acute abdomen

Identifying peritoneal signs (part 1)

Identifying peritoneal signs (part 2)

Examining the inguinal region

Evaluating the rectum for disease

Focusing on specific parts of the abdominal exam quiz

Quiz

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Chapter 5

Essentials of the abdominal exam in subpopulations

In this chapter, you will learn specific examination strategies and tricks unique to pregnant women, children, and the elderly.

4 lessons

15m

Essentials of the abdominal exam in subpopulations intro

Performing an abdominal exam on pregnant patients

Performing an abdominal exam on children

Performing an abdominal exam on elderly patients

Essentials of the abdominal exam in subpopulations quiz

Quiz

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Chapter 6

Common abdominal pain scenarios

Finally, you’ll bring all the knowledge you learned in previous chapters together to solve cases of patients complaining of pain within various quadrants of the abdomen.

6 lessons

20m

Common abdominal pain scenarios intro

Identifying the cause of right upper quadrant pain

Identifying the cause of right lower quadrant pain

Identifying the cause of left upper quadrant pain

Identifying the cause of left lower quadrant pain

Common abdominal pain scenarios quiz

Quiz

Abdominal Examination Essentials outro

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Teachers of this course

Olutayo A. Sogunro, DO FACS FACOS

Olutayo is a Breast Surgical Oncologist at Johns Hopkins Howard County General Hospital and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Maryland, USA

Teacher Profile

Medmastery

Nora Drenaline

Clinical reasoning and examination

Claim your certificate

All members receive a certificate for completing this course. For Pro members, the certificate comes with 3 CME credits.

CME accredited

All our courses and workshops are fully CME accredited. We provide USA AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ and European CME credits (ECMEC®s). Pro members can download their CME certificates upon successful completion of activities. Want to transfer these credits to your national system? No problem.

Learn how this works

CME at its best

Award-winning teaching method

Winner of the Comenius EduMedia Medal
For outstanding digital education—Berlin 2013
Highly commended by the British Medical Association
Awarded in the digital category of the BMA Book Awards—London 2017
Winner of the Comenius EduMedia Seal
For outstanding digital education—Berlin 2017
Internationally accredited
CME accredited in the USA and EU with mutual recognition agreements in most other countries.
Trusted institutional partner
Used by residency programs and universities around the world to train their clinicians and students.
Top-rated by our learners
Rated excellent by hundreds of users on Trustpilot, an independent reviewing platform.

What’s in it for you?

Master the most important skills

Learn any skill in under 5 hours

Save time and money

After completing this course, you will be able to

What's inside

What to do before the abdominal exam begins

Inspection, auscultation, and percussion

Palpation of the abdomen

Focusing on specific parts of the abdominal exam

Essentials of the abdominal exam in subpopulations

Common abdominal pain scenarios

Claim your certificate

CME accredited

Winner of the Comenius EduMedia Medal

Highly commended by the British Medical Association

Winner of the Comenius EduMedia Seal

Internationally accredited

Trusted institutional partner

Top-rated by our learners