Young Woman With Abdominal Pain: A Case-Based Exercise for Medical Students

Abstract

Abstract This case-based exercise designed for second year medical students covers principles of diagnosis and management of abdominal pain. It provides a structured team-based setting in which groups of medical students can practice clinical reasoning skills. It has been used as part of a series of clinical cases created to help students synthesize what they have learned in different organ system courses and apply their knowledge in a realistic clinical scenario. The exercise could be used at various points in medical students' training, but participants should have completed coursework in gastrointestinal, reproductive and urinary systems. This case requires pre-clinical students to integrate and synthesize learning from many different courses and disciplines. In our experience, the modified team-based learning approach that this exercise employs generates lively and clinically sophisticated discussions among second year medical students.

Keywords

• Abdominal Pain
• Inguinal Hernia
• Appendicitis
• Ovarian Torsion
• Small Bowel Obstruction
• Urolithiasis