Christina Rafano explains the difference between subjective data, like reported pain or tingling that only the patient can describe, and objective data, like vital signs or visible bleeding that any clinician can measure. Both matter in nursing assessments.
What is subjective and objective data in nursing? And why do they need to make words that are so long? Well, I don't know the answer to the second question, but I can definitely help you out with the first. So let's talk about subjective and objective data. Hey friend, my name is Christina Rafano from nursingschoolofsuccess.com and you may have heard these two terms before. Subject subjective data and objective data. So during the nursing assessment, you actually do both. You collect subjective data and objective data. So let's walk through what that means. Subjective data means that you, as the nursing student, can't see it, can't feel it, touch it, smell it, hear it, or anything else. These are things that you cannot really prove. So for example, these would be like the patient's pain level, if they feel tingling in their legs or their past experiences, how they feel, things like that. These are all subjective. You can't really prove them. You're just going off what the patient says. Now, on the other hand, objective data are things that you can see, feel, touch, smell, hear. Otherwise observe. So think objective, observe. So if you can observe it, you can measure it. That is objective data. Things like vital signs, except pain, so heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, blood pressure, things like that. Now, objective data would also include things like bleeding or cold, extremities, vomiting, and other things that you, as the nursing student, can observe. Now, a lot of nursing students ask why pain is subjective and not objective. And the key thing to remember here is can you prove it. So with objective data, another nurse can come in and see the same thing, like, obviously the patient's bleeding or their heart rate is 90 beats per minute. However, with subjective data, you're going off the patient's word in what they say. You really can't prove it. You can't really prove that the patient's pain level is what they say it is. So sure, you can see if they look like they're in pain, but pain itself is highly subjective. It can't be proven. So that is subjective and objective data. In a nutshell, objective data are things that can be proven or observed. Remember, objective and observed. Whereas subjective data are things that can't really be proven and you really can't even observe them. Now, I hope this video helped to clear all of that up for you. And if you need more help with nursing school fundamentals or the nursing assessment, be sure to check out the other videos that we have have for you on the nursing school show. To help you out with those topics, I will put links to all of those in the description below this video. And of course, if you like this video, hit that subscribe button and click that little bell icon to be notified when we post a new video. Thank you so much for being here, friend. Now go become the nurse that God created only you to be, and I will see you right back here next time on the Nursing School Show. Take care.
