Objective vs. Subjective - Age, lives alone .etc.

[esunada]

Age seems like an objective data but technically you can't figure that out with the senses and the person is telling you this, so it also sounds like subjective data. But then again technically one could verify this if they took the time to do it. Same with lives alone. Is this data subjective or objective???

[llg, PhD, RN]

In my experience, sometimes different instructors will have differing opinions about things like this. Some people like to categorize everything the patient says as "subjective" because they might be interpreting things differently than you would, might be lying, wrong, etc. However, other people would consider those things objective since they are verifiable facts that can be counted, measured, etc.

For what it's worth, I consider that sort of data to be objective IF the patient is a good source of information and/or the information has been verified by a reliable source. I'd consider it subjective if I wasn't sure about the patient's reliability and/or the information was part of a story I hadn't or couldn't verify from a reliable source.

But you will have to check with your instructor and/or textbook to find out what the "right answer for class" is.