Tech in Surgery Prep / Unit 3 TSC 057 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Abdominal Regions and Quadrants
The idea
Health care providers divide the abdomen either into nine regions or into four quadrants, so that locations can be described precisely.
In practice
Build each map yourself. For the nine regions, draw one horizontal line immediately below the ribs and another immediately above the pelvis, then two vertical lines dropped from the middle of each collarbone. The lines make a grid of nine. For the four quadrants, which are used more in practice, draw one vertical line and one horizontal line that cross at the umbilicus, the navel. That gives the right upper, left upper, right lower and left lower quadrants. Remember that right and left are the patient's own.
Where people slip
The quadrant a surgeon names tells you where the work will happen, and so where retraction, light and suction will be needed. A right lower quadrant procedure puts the action on the patient's right side, low in the abdomen.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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