Objective/Subjective Data

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Hey all ! I am trying to figure this one out. My teacher went over subjective and objective data today. She asked at the end of class if you had a client with oily hair if that would be subjective or objective data... I thought objective but clearly I was wrong .. I still do not understand why it wouldn't be objective .. If anyone knows it would be of great help and I will greatly appreciate it :)

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It is objective data.

Subjective data is anything that the patient STATES that you can not verrify such as " I have a headache" "My stomach hurts" "I am hungry"

Objective data is observable data. So you can observe that the client has oily hair.

Are you sure there wasnt more to the question?

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Specializes in NICU.

If the patient runs their fingers through their hair and states "I have oily hair", then it is subjective. If you feel their hair and it is oily, then it is objective.

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I have to disagree with that guyinbabyland. Subjective data is something the patient states that CAN NOT be verified. You can clearly see if the patient has oily hair.

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Specializes in CICU, Telemetry.

Objective data is something that can be measured.

'I have a fever' is subjective.

'My temperature is 104.3' is objective.

Patient has oily hair, but can you measure how oily it is? Is there a test you can perform that proves it is more oily than baseline? If you sent the patient's hair to a lab and found that it is currently made up of 78% oil as opposed to a baseline of 12% for that patient, then it would be objective.

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Specializes in CICU, Telemetry.

Subjective is not always a patient stated thing. You can make subjective observations. Patient appears more diaphoretic than previous assessment, patient with increased non-verbal pain indicators since prior assessment, etc.

When you think of objective, you need to think of how you will measure the symptom/sign. Think of it as treating the patient as an object, and measuring various data about the object in question.

Example, you have a patient with classic UTI symptoms. She presents with altered mental status, dysuria, foul-smelling urine, fever, leukocytosis, and fatigue.

1. Altered mental status- subjective

2. Dysuria- subjective

3. Malodorous urine- subjective

4. fever- objective, you can measure this and compare it to other temperatures.

5. Leukocytosis- objectice- you can measure their WBC count

6. Fatigue- subjective

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Example, you have a patient with classic UTI symptoms. She presents with altered mental status, dysuria, foul-smelling urine, fever, leukocytosis, and fatigue.

1. Altered mental status- subjective

2. Dysuria- subjective

3. Malodorous urine- subjective

4. fever- objective, you can measure this and compare it to other temperatures.

5. Leukocytosis- objectice- you can measure their WBC count

6. Fatigue- subjective

Fatigue can also be objective if measured. "Unable to walk as far as yesterday, 60 feet vs. 120 feet.".

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Subjective and objective can also be objective and subjective.

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