digestive system of the human body

digestive system of the human body

            Medical examiners must be equipped with quality and high-level skills to make sure they provide the best services to people to whom they rely on them for treatment. Having the be knowledge of the human body systems, helps them to provide quality assessment to the patients. They require this knowledge to make sure that they are to do their assessment with utmost proficiency. Therefore, having the abilities to detect abnormalities that the population they are serving have, relying on the information collected from the subjective and objective assessments on the patients they are treating. The medical practitioners should be able to have an adaptation of their assessment skills, therefore, being able to serve various populations. The population may include infant, pregnant, and geriatric. The main reason for this assignment can do the identification and articulation of advanced assessments, that include health and physical examination techniques, that can be linked to a particular body system.  Being in a position to distinguish normal and abnormal results concerning a disease that impacts the body system. The adoption of proper assessment skills that will help in addressing the issues of a certain population in the society.

Body system

The discussion of this assignment will precisely focus on the digestive system of the human body. The digestive system usually is made up of many main organs that include the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small, and large intestines (Nigam, 2017). The digestive system is a vital organ since it facilitates the breakdown of food into small molecules, enabling the body to absorb the particles.

Physiology

The mouth helps in ingesting food, chews, and mixes the food. It is where the chemical breakdown of carbohydrates begins, and the food is then moved into the pharynx. The mouth also helps in moistening and dissolving food enabling a person to taste. The pharynx propels food from the oral cavity to the esophagus and lubricates food and passageways. Esophagus propels food to the stomach and also lubricates food and passageways. The stomach mixes and churns food with gastric juices to form chyme, and the chemical breakdown of proteins begins. Food is released into the duodenum as chyme. It does the absorption of some fat-soluble substances. The stomach also possesses antimicrobial functions. It stimulates protein-digesting enzymes and helps in the secretion of intrinsic factor that helps in the absorption of B₁₂ into the small intestines. The small intestines mix chyme with digestive juices. It aids in the propelling of at a slow rate enabling digestion and absorption. It absorbs breakdown products of carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, together with vitamins, minerals, and water. It also performs physical digestion via segmentation. The accessory organs in the digestive system helps in the digestion process. The liver produces bile salts, which emulsify lipids, therefore, aiding their digestion and absorption. The gallbladder helps in storing concentrates and releasing bile. The pancreas aids the production of digestive enzymes and bicarbonate. The large intestine further breaks down food into residues. Facilitates the absorption of most residual water, electrolytes, and vitamins produce by enteric bacteria. It propels feces towards the rectum where they are eliminated from the body.

Health History Questions

The process of taking the history of the patient should start by making sure the patient is comfortable to give proper and clear information on what he or she is ailing from. The next step in the health history examination would be to introduce one’s self to the patient. Providing one’s name, credentials, and role within the care team. The questions that would be very important while taking the respiratory questions include: When did the problem begin? Where is the problem located? How long has this been going on for? How can you describe the way you are feeling? Does the problem move or stay in one location? Does anything make the bloating better? Is there any family history of the digestion problem? Is the problem worse or better at a certain time of the day? By using the scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the least while five being the worst, how can you rate the problem? While the assessment is going, there is a need to observe if the patient is having any discomfort while sitting and answering questions. If the patient is having difficulty during the communication process, it can be linked to having stomach upset.

Objective data

The conclusion of collecting subjective data leads the examiner to collect objective data. The collection of objective data involves inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. The inspection on the patient begins by the examiner doing a visual examination of the abdomen while noting the shape of the abdomen, skin abnormalities, abdominal masses, and the movement of the abdominal wall with respiration. The detection of abnormalities during inspection helps in giving the clues to intra-abdominal pathology. It is important to differentiate the abdominal wall from intra-abdominal masses. The abdominal wall mass will become more prominent with tensing of the abdominal wall musculature, while an intraabdominal mass will become less prominent or disappear.

During palpation assessment, the examiner should first gently examine the abdominal wall with the fingertips. It will demonstrate the crunching feeling of crepitus of the abdominal wall, a sign of gas or fluid within the subcutaneous tissues. It will also help in demonstrating any irregularities of the abdominal wall, hence giving some information on the tender areas. The examiner can do deep palpation of the abdomen by placing the hand on the abdominal wall and applying firm, steady pressure. The examiner should start the deep palpation in the quadrant directly opposite to any area of pain and carefully examine each quadrant. Abdominal tenderness is the objective expression of pain from palpation. It should be described as to its quadrant; depth of palpation is required to elicit it and the patient’s response.

Palpation and percussion are used to evaluate ascites. A rounded, symmetrical contour of the abdomen with bulging flanks is often the first clue. Palpation of the abdomen in the patient with ascites will often demonstrate a doughy, almost fluctuant sensation. In advanced cases, the abdominal wall will be tense due to enlargement from the contained fluid. Gas-filled intestines will float to the top of the fluid-filled abdomen. Thus, in the supine patient with ascites, there should be periumbilical tympany with dullness in the flanks. Auscultation analysis, the bowel sounds, is the significance of the existence of intra-abdominal pathology. The absence of bowel sounds may be one of the few indicators of intra-abdominal infection in patients with multiple problems and, particularly, altered mental status even though radiographic examination of the abdomen may suggest bowel obstruction. The features of a high-pitched bowel sounds are diagnostic of an experienced examiner.

Adaptation of physical assessment

Infant

Every infant has an individual need that needs to be attended to, therefore treating them in the best way possible makes them happy. Infancy from the period of birth is almost two years, making most of the infants to be two years of age. It is a period when most of the children’s language starts to flourish. The infants are always dynamic and having an orderly predictable way of development.  The need to create a conducive environment for the guardian also helps in making sure that you get a better understanding of what the kid is ailing from. There is a need to use the tool of communication in making sure that you get the best information from the guardian, which in turn will help in giving the best help to a kid who is suffering. Getting to know the medical history of the infant. The information will help in getting to understand better the treatments the infant has been getting and what maybe he or she may be ailing. It also helps in understanding and getting to know the medicines which the infant is allergic to. Having this information will help me in administering the best of services to the child. I will also use my physical assessment skill of inspection and palpation to determine the ailment the child is having. Using visual examination on the infant and palpation examination, to determine the area the kid is having pain, that is if it exists.

Pregnant

Pregnant women are a population that needs to be handled with a lot of care. It is because they have a child in the womb who is dependent on the mother. Therefore, making a pregnant woman comfortable also makes sure that the kid is in a better health situation. Pregnancy doesn’t directly affect the digestion system. Before providing treatment for a pregnant woman, there is always the need to make sure that you understand better what she is ailing from, enabling you to give her the best medication. Making sure it will not have any effect on her and hence not affecting the unborn child. Getting to know the period the woman has had the pregnancy will guide my final decision of the medication that will be provided. The need to know then the period she has been unwell, hence being able to see the attention the woman needs. Since, if she has had the ailment for a more extended period, there is a need to try and get to know if it has affected the child she is carrying. Therefore, there is a need to do referral if the problems seem complex and need specific medical care.

Geriatric

The geriatric population is a population that has unique needs when they age. They usually need maximum attention while attending to them. Also, while dealing with them, they need a lot of time in between communication for them to be understood. Interview techniques will come handy in making sure that they get the best services. Giving them time to explain themselves in the best way they can, getting to know what are the symptoms they are having. The need for visual examination of the abdomen while noting the shape of the abdomen, skin abnormalities, abdominal masses, and the movement of the abdominal wall with respiration.

Major disease process

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) occurs when stomach acid backs up into the esophagus (Burgess, 2018). It is a condition called acid flux, where a person may feel a burning pain in the middle of the chest. Even though many people experience acid flux and heartburn once in a while, people who have it daily or at least twice each week could be considered as a sign of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. Signs associated with the disease include persistent heartburn, bad breath, tooth erosion, nausea, having trouble swallowing, and pain in the upper part of your abdomen. People who experience such signs should avoid using over the counter antacids, food, and beverages that trigger the symptoms and medication that reduce stomach acid production and inflammation of the esophagus. Cases of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease can be solved by stronger treatment that includes medication and surgery.

References

Burgess, J. (2018). Dental Erosion, GERD, and Salivary Stimulation. Journal of Oral & Dental Health, 5.

Nigam, Y., & Knight, J. (2017). Anatomy and physiology of aging 3: the digestive system. Nursing Times, 113(4), 54-57.