Acute Medicine | Vomiting and nausea 02 knowledge A

Nausea and Vomiting: Investigations and Management
Session Overview
Description
This session provides an overview of the common causes of nausea and vomiting and the aetiology behind such presentations. Treatment options are discussed in terms of the cause of the symptoms.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Evaluate a case of nausea and vomiting
• Make a provisional diagnosis and book the appropriate investigations
• Initiate first line treatment based on likely cause of symptoms

A patient presenting with nausea and vomiting (N&V) provides a vast array of potential diagnoses.

Nausea can be described as the feeling one gets immediately prior to vomiting. It is an extremely subjective term and is described by patients in many ways.

Vomiting is the physical act of expulsion of gastric contents, often preceded by retching.

Causes commonly include:

• Local physiological response to exogenous toxins
• Disease of the gastrointestinal system
• Pathology within the central nervous system (CNS)

Note that vomiting can occur in the absence of nausea.

The elderly are the most common sufferers of N&V.

Most cases of N&V do not require prolonged hospital admission and investigation.