Severe Acute Pancreatitis: A 44-Year-Old Woman
A branching clinical case simulation for a patient presenting with severe epigastric pain radiating to the back, vomiting. Take a history, examine, investigate, diagnose and treat while the patient responds to every decision, then see the score by clinical domain with the reasoning for each mark.
Year 4medium20 min6 stages
- Patient
- 44 years, female
- Presenting complaint
- Severe epigastric pain radiating to the back, vomiting.
- Decision stages
- History, Examination, Investigations, Diagnosis, Treatment, Monitoring
The presentation
A 44-year-old woman presents to the emergency department with a 12-hour history of severe epigastric pain that radiates to her back. She has vomited four times and appears in significant distress. The registrar has asked you to take a history and examine her. Her serum amylase has come back as 1,900 U/L. You are a Year 4 medical student. Remember to consider the differentials and make safe decisions.
What this case teaches
Diagnose acute pancreatitis and identify the cause; score severity using Glasgow-Imrie; give aggressive fluid resuscitation and analgesia; recognise when antibiotics are not indicated.
How the case unfolds
- 1History: Identifying the CauseHistory
- 2Examination: Findings and SeverityExamination
- 3Investigations: Confirm and ScoreInvestigations
- 4Diagnosis: Confirm and Score SeverityDiagnosis
- 5Treatment: Aggressive Resuscitation and AnalgesiaTreatment
- 6Monitoring and EscalationMonitoring
The decisions available at each stage, and what each one costs or earns, appear when you run the case.
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A free account opens the simulator: the patient's observations move with your decisions, and every choice is scored and explained.
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Educational content for students and clinicians in training. It does not replace professional judgement, local protocols or current prescribing information.