A 17-year-old male, RT, presents to your office for weight loss and chronic abdominal pain

ABDOMINAL PAIN

As a pediatric nurse practitioner, it is important that you properly assess, diagnose, treat, and refer (as appropriate) common, chronic, gastrointestinal disorders. Providing anticipatory guidance and patient and family education is vital.

CASE STUDY

A 17-year-old male, RT, presents to your office for weight loss and chronic abdominal pain. He states that for the last 4 months, he has had multiple episodes of diarrhea while he is at school. Sometimes he also has constipation. There is no blood in the stool. He does not have a fever. Periodically he gets mouth ulcers. He says that after he eats, he has to rush to the bathroom. He says that he is always tired. 

When you ask about his diet, he says he usually eats pizza or peanut butter and jelly at school. For dinner, he likes spaghetti. Yesterday, he had Chick-fil-A for breakfast. 

Write a discussion regarding the following queries below:

1. List one primary diagnosis and one differential diagnosis. 

2. Explain which lab work or diagnostic testing you would prescribe for RT. 

3. Also, indicate all referrals that you would make. 

4. Explain the type of family or patient education you would deliver. 

Use this week’s readings and resources to support your response and cite all resources in APA format, 7th edition. 

LEARNING RESOURCES

Required Readings

• Marcdante, K. J., & Kliegman, R. M. (2019). Nelson essentials of pediatrics (8th ed.). Elsevier.

o Section 17, “Digestive System” (pp. 467–505)

• Cunningham, N. R., Moorman, E., Brown, C. M., Mallon, D., Chundi, P. K., Mara, C. A., Pentiuk, S., Lynch-Jordan, A. M., Dykes, D. M. H., Elfers, J., & Farrell, M. K. (2018). Integrating psychological screening into medical care for youth with abdominal painLinks to an external site.. Pediatrics, 142(2), e20172876. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-2876

• Hays, S. M., & McGinnis, C. (2018). Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in children: beyond metabolic syndromeLinks to an external site.. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 14(10), 725–731. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2018.08.034

• Newton, E., Schosheim, A., Patel, S., Chitkara, D. K., & van Tilburg, M. A. (2019). The role of psychological factors in pediatric functional abdominal pain disordersLinks to an external site.. Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 31(6), e13538. https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.13538

• Reust, C. E., & Williams, A. (2018). Recurrent abdominal pain in childrenLinks to an external site.. American Family Physician, 97(12), 785–793. https://www.aafp.org/afp/2018/0615/p785.html

• Short, P., Burklow, C. S., Nylund, C. M., Susi, A., & Hisle-Gorman, E. (2021). Impact of parental illness and injury on pediatric disorders of gut–brain interactionLinks to an external site.. The Journal of Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.05.017

• Thapar, N., Benninga, M. A., Crowell, M. D., Di Lorenzo, C., Mack, I., Nurko, S., Saps, M., Shulman, R. J., Szajewska, H., van Tilburg, M. A. L., & Enck, P. (2020). Pediatric functional abdominal pain disordersLinks to an external site.. Nature Reviews Disease Primers, 6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41572-020-00222-5