Question

The nurse is performing an assessment of a client who has a small wound on the knee, collecting cues about the client's health status. Which of the following would the nurse identify as a subjective cue?

1) Sharp pain in the knee
2) Small bloody drainage on dressing
3) Temperature of 102 degrees F
4) Pulse rate of 90 beats per minute

Answer 1

Sharp pain in the knee is identified as a subjective cue in a client's health status assessment because it is based on the patient's personal experience and cannot be directly measured by a clinician.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a nurse is performing an assessment of a client with a wound, the nurse will collect both subjective and objective cues about the client's health status. Subjective cues are those that are reported by the patient and cannot be directly observed or measured by the clinician. In the given options, sharp pain in the knee would be identified as a subjective cue because it is a symptom that the patient feels and experiences, but it cannot be objectively measured by the nurse without further quantification tools. Objective cues, on the other hand, are directly observable or measurable, such as bloody drainage on dressing, temperature, and pulse rate.