TY - CHAP M1 - Book, Section TI - Gastrointestinal Emergencies A1 - Lee, Debra A2 - Cooney, Derek R. PY - 2016 T2 - Cooney's EMS Medicine AB - Abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation are exceedingly common symptoms. In 2007, 10.8 million cases presented to emergency departments with gastrointestinal complaints, representing 9.2% of ED visits.1 Twenty-one to forty-one percent of these patients, despite a full complement of diagnostic testing, leave the ED without a clear diagnosis.2 There is diagnostic complexity in differentiating benign self-limited disease versus serious life-threatening conditions when evaluating these common gastrointestinal complaints. Patients arriving via EMS transport are more likely to require hospital admission, suggesting that EMS providers will encounter a sicker subset of the overall ED population.3 Evaluation of these patients is often a challenge as is the provision of education and medical oversight to the EMS provider and system. SN - PB - McGraw-Hill Education CY - New York, NY Y2 - 2024/03/28 UR - accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1126791935 ER -