Setting and Preparation
Position - patient should be supine and the bed or examination table should be flat. The patient's hands should remain at his/her sides with his/her head resting on a pillow. If the neck is flexed, the abdominal musculature becomes tensed and the examination made more difficult. Allowing the patient to bend his/her knees so that the soles of their feet rest on the table will also relax the abdomen.
Lighting - adjusted so that it is ideal.
Draping - patient should be exposed from the pubic symphysis below to the costal margin above - in women to just below the breasts. Some surgeons would describe an abdominal examination being from nipples to knees.
Physicians have had concern that giving patients pain medications during acute abdominal pain may hinder diagnosis and treatment. Separate systematic reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration and the Rational Clinical Examination refute this claim.
Read more about this topic: Abdominal Examination
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