AHRQ Web M&M Spotlights Abdominal Pain in Early Pregnancy

The current issue of AHRQ Web M&M features a case involving a pregnant women who visited the emergency department after experiencing abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and was discharged with antibiotics for treating a urinary tract infection. She returned the next day with unchanged abdominal pain and more nausea and vomiting. Apart from a focused ultrasound to document her pregnancy, no further testing was done. When the patient returned on the third day appearing more ill, magnetic resonance imaging was done, revealing a ruptured appendix. The Perspectives on Safety section includes two interviews about electronic tools for patient safety. An interview with Vineet Arora, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of GME Clinical Learning Environment Innovation and assistant dean for scholarship and discovery at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, focuses on the intersection of health information technology and patient safety. Eric J. Topol, M.D., director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute and editor-in-chief of Medscape, talks about his new book, “The Patient Will See You Now: The Future of Medicine Is in Your Hands.”