What's more objective...?

[BrandiBooh]

pain in the leg or discomfort in breathing?

I am stuck with these because you can observe pain by checking for tenderness...and you can inspect discomfort breathing by watching the client and checking for signs of discomfort in facial expressions or the rhythm breathing

Any ideas?

[nightmare, RN]

What do you mean by objective?

[BrandiBooh]

Subjective vs. Objective data that you record when you take an assessment (I am a first semester Jr) :uhoh21:

I know that subjective is what is stated and objective is more of what you assess...but both could be stated by the client..so I am confused

[nightmare, RN]

Which is the client most worried about? The leg pain could be DVT which is potentially life threatening if it throws a clot,likewise the discomfort in breathing could be caused by a clot!! This has probably not helped much but sometimes questions just spawn other questions

[BrandiBooh]

That's all the information that's actually given..I understand your thinking process though :)

My book says that "feelings of pain" are subjective...I guess since it's what the client perceives...but I know you can actually observe tenderness which would be indicative of pain...

ARRGH, so frustrating when all the answers seem right

I'm trying to get use to that

[agent66]

My guess would be the shortness of breath, because you could also do a sat, and a blood gas possibly, there would be more measureable factors basically. And the resp rate, color of the patient, use of accessory muscles, sound of respiratory effort, ie wheezy, mental status , anxiety associated with also. Although a high bp would be a factor with pain. That is a tough one!! Would still go with the breathing.

[nightmare, RN]

Visible signs of leg pain could be a limp, grimacing when leg is touched, positive homans sign, redness ,tenderness ,oedema and ,if measured,being bigger than the other leg.All of these are things that you can observe.

[BrandiBooh]

Thanks for all your help guys, this one IS tough lol

[BrandiBooh]

FYI--It was discomfort in breathing

go figure.

[jjjoy, LPN]

Welcome to the world of vague nursing exam questions! What IS the point of the question? To see if you can figure out what the test writer is asking!

You can know all about pain assessment and all about difficulty in breathing. You can thoroughly understand the meaning of the words and concepts "subjective" and "objective." Yet, one still can't be certain what the question is asking. After all, the question asked about "discomfort" in breathing... and discomfort is a subjective judgement.

What in the world is the application and relevance of the question? I'm guessing the point is that if a patient reports "pain the leg" the nurse really needs to dig further to assess what that means by asking questions - is it an itch on the skin? is it a deep pain? Is it only when you move or it constant? - inquiring into the subjective experience. If a patient reports "discomfort in breathing" the nurse should be sure to observe the patient breathing which is objective information.

But overall it sounds like a poorly written question to me.

[AusNurse2B]

Well.... if the leg was cut off and shoved down the persons throat....:trout:

[BrandiBooh]

That's a great way to look at it though---they way you pointed out the fact that you have to dig deeper when assesing the pain comment

I will remember that for future ref :)