title: School Nurses on the Front Lines of Medicine: An Adolescent Female Student with Severe Abdominal Pain.
abstract: Abdominal pain is a common chief complaint encountered by school nurses. This article explains the etiology of abdominal pain in children and adolescents, describes the office assessment, and delineates life-threatening conditions associated with severe abdominal pain that may prompt the school nurse to transfer the student to a local emergency department.
authors.affiliation: Attending pediatric emergency medicine physician, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA rolympia@hmc.psu.edu.
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Olympia
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital, Hershey, PA.
authors.forename: Jodi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brady
mesh_terms: D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing*; D000293:Adolescent; D001064:Appendicitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010049:Ovarian Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing / Q000601:surgery; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012573:School Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D014102:Torsion Abnormality / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States
keywords: abdominal pain; appendicitis; ovarian torsion