How to assess and examine a patient with abdominal symptoms

This article presents a systematic approach to assessing and examining a patient presenting with abdominal symptoms to allow you to give a working diagnosis and guide clinical management. This includes how to take a thorough history and examine the abdomen using the inspection, palpation, percussion and auscultation framework, with a focus on the non-deteriorating patient. This is the seventh part of a series of articles on advanced assessment and interpretation skills.

This article has been double-blind peer reviewed