Morning report: what does soft and positive bowel sounds mean?

[northmississippi]

At morning report, the night nurse tells the day nurse about the pt using a sbar form, and usually the bowels are describes as "soft and positive", what does that mean actually? our book says bowel sounds are described as hypo/hyper active.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

I am guessing abdomen soft, non-tender with normo active bowel sounds in all 4 quadrants (sometimes abbreviated as +BS x4Q)

[krisiepoo]

I would read that as abdomen soft and all BS are present

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

Soft means that the abdomen is soft vs. firm. A soft abdomen is what you want a patient to have. (It doesn't mean the patient is flabby, just that there is not a firmness that would indicate an inflamed peritoneum).

Positive means that bowel sounds are present. Hypoactive is that the sounds are present but slow, and hyperactive means that they are faster than is considered within normal limits. All three are "positive" but if your patients' bowel sounds were WNL, you'd report that as positive vs. hypo or hyperactive.