Management of acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding

Acute upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is one of the most common medical emergencies and most cases require urgent medical assessment. Half of all cases are due to peptic ulcer and this article focuses on non-variceal bleeding. The priority, following emergency hospital admission, is to support the circulation of the shocked patient rather than to identify the source of bleeding. After resuscitation the patient can have an endoscopy procedure. It is important that all nurses are fully aware of the signs, symptoms, and management of acute upper GI bleeding, issues that are all addressed in this article.