I. HISTORY

PATIENT PRESENTATION

A 61-year-old woman sees her physician because of abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Large amounts of blood are present in her stools. She has a past history of a peptic ulcer and hypertension. The surgeon who is also evaluating her is concerned about the amount of blood in the stool and has asked the referring physician to rule out a coagulopathy.

What is your first step in evaluating this patient?

	Take additional history
	Start laboratory tests

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