Gastrointestinal Alterations
The alimentary canal or gastrointestinal (GI) tract includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon, anus, as well as some accessory digestive tissues such as the salivary glands, liver, gall bladder, pancreas, and is the digestion pathway of food after ingestion. (Huether, & McCance, 2017). The digestive system is responsible for the breakdown, digestion, absorption, and excretion of food. Because many of the GI alterations have similar clinical manifestations, differentiating potential causes into a single diagnosis can be difficult. GI inflammatory and ulcerative conditions can disrupt absorption, motility, and secretion (Huether, & McCance, 2017). For this reason, an advanced practice nurse must have an understanding of common GI disorders such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), peptic ulcer disease (PUD), and gastritis. The purpose of this paper is to describe the pathophysiology of gastric acid production and explain the differences in regards to GERD, PUD, and gastritis.NURS 6501 WeeK 8 : Gastrointestinal Alterations