Tag: diagnostic tests

Signs And Symptoms Of Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome is perhaps one of the most difficult medical problems to diagnose. In addition to having no specific cause, irritable bowel syndrome cannot also be tested as there are no diagnostic tests that can confirm the condition.

What is IBS?
Irritable bowel syndrome is dysfunction in the large intestine, the part of the digestive system that is responsible for the storage and excretion of solid body wastes. According to experts, it seems that people suffering from irritable bowel syndrome have large intestines that are very sensitive to stimulation, too much so that the slightest change in the bodily function can cause the whole system to go haywire.
Although there are no known causes of the problem, most doctors agree that food intake and the stress that the body experience may play a role in triggering the problem. Similar to allergic reactions, there are certain foods that may irritate the large intestine and lead to either constipation or diarrhea. Milk products for instance, can cause irritable bowel syndrome.

No direct cause
The lack of direct cause is also the reason why there is no diagnostic test that can confirm the diagnosis. Doctors have to rely on the accounts of the patients about their symptoms as well as the medical history. Diagnosis can only be achieved if the set of criteria is fulfilled. This means that the presence of only one symptom is not enough to make a diagnosis. The doctor must find a set of symptoms before drawing conclusions. Thus, it is called a syndrome and not just a disorder. This, however, can be rather confusing as most if not all of the symptoms under irritable bowel syndrome are those that are also present in other diseases.

What are its symptoms?
According to the Rome II Diagnostic Criteria System, often used in the diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders, a problem is diagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome if there is a 12 month-period of abdominal pain accompanied by two of these three factors, pain is relieved when the person has already excreted the waste material; the onset is associated with a change in the frequency of defecating, either by constipation or diarrhea; or the onset is associated with a change in the appearance of the stool. Accompaniment of these factors must have a duration of at least 12 weeks and is not necessarily consecutive.

E. R. Nurses in a Maze

This article explains a few things about nurses, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know.

Millions of patients walk relevance emergency rooms every year to get medical attention. With the proliferating of medical series, everybody seems to copy amazed with the 24 hour action hospital department with emergency nurses running and treating critically injured victims.

But how does emergency room really works?

According to Dr. Carl Bianco, writer of How Emergency Room Works, the first step in the emergency room process is the triage. A triage is an emergency nurse who categorizes and prioritizes the patients condition. The triage categorizes the patients situation into three categories:

1. immediately life threatening
2. urgent, but no immediately life threatening
3. less urgent

The triage is also responsible in recording the patients key signs which are temperature, pulse, respiratory rate and blood pressure. The triage also gets the brief patient history, medications, allergies to actuate the appropriate category.

Registrations will be the next motion. Take cover the registration, additional information is obtained from the patient. Mainly insurance information, opener of medical record for reference while in the hospital. But for life threatening situations like car crash of impulse threatening cases, registration can be completed later on.

The patient will snap next to the examination room where an emergency room nurse will get more detailed information about the sickness. There are certain hospitals that have divided their emergency department into areas dedicated to pediatric ER, a chest – pain ER, a fast track ( for minor injuries and illnesses ), trauma center ( usually for severely injured patients ) and an observation unit ( for patients who do not require hospital admission but needs prolonged map or diagnostic tests ).

Meeting the nurse has completed her duty, the emergency physician will get a complete review of the information obtained from the patient. He then formulates a possible cause or diagnosis based on the symptoms.

Diagnostic tests are required when the physician sees that the patients symptom and physical examination failed to get a likely diagnosis. After conducting the unique tests and was powerhouse to identify the probable diagnosis, necessary action or steps are undertaken to treat the patient.

Normally, a scene from the ER can be psyched out and confusing for a victim of patients family. A long line of patients wanting to be examined could a horrendous sight. There are some people who tried to get medical elevation to no avail. Donna Mason, an emergency nurse gave CNN five things to remember in an ER:

1. Inform your doctor is you will be reaction to the emergency room.

2. Use the ambulance specifically for threatening situations. There would be instances that whenever emergency personnel charge see that the patient can actually walk and chose to arrive with the emergency room to get attention, they asked the sensitive to step down and wait.

3. If the triage is not being helpful in addressing the case, speak up and look for the person in charge.

4. It is important to control nature at all times. It is also important not to lie about your symptoms just to get attention key of the others.

5. If things are really getting bad and nobody from the emergency department is helping, look for a house phone and inform the issue to the hospital administrator or patient advocate who is available 24 hours.

Emergency room experience can be tough and rough. Undoubted is necessary for us to understand the how things work to understand why some emergency room or departments will take a while to address patient issues. Emergency rooms are a mazes filled with emergency room nurses who I wager will hold office expanded than happy to take disturbance of the patients.
That’s how things stand right now. Keep in mind that any subject can change over time, so be sure you keep up with the latest news.