🩺 Symptom Guide
Urinary Retention
Assess urgently for acute urinary retention, obstructive uropathy, urosepsis, AKI, cauda equina, and painful bladder distension requiring emergency decompression.
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Red flags
- Inability to pass urine with painful bladder distension
- sepsis physiology or fever
- severe suprapubic pain
- vomiting
First actions / assessment
- ABCDE first if unwell
- confirm whether this is acute inability to void, painful incomplete emptying, or chronic retention with overflow symptoms
- record full vitals, pain severity, hydration status, and urine output where possible
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- Full differential diagnosis list
- History, examination, and investigations
- Linked protocols and drug doses
- Offline access and portfolio logging
Symptom Guide · StatResus — Emergency Medicine Reference