Home Nursing Techniques; Signs & Symptoms of Illnesses & Diseases ;))

1.  If you are a good home nurse, what are the various home nursing techniques that you need to apply that will make the patient feel comfortable and speed up the recovery?

a. Regular Monitoring of the vital signs of patient
b. Monitoring medicine intake
c. regular changing of bed linens
d. Constant follow up on the patient's feeling by talking or asking him/her

2.  Why should the home nurse monitor the vital signs of the patient?

- Measuring and recording a patient's vital signs accurately is important as this gives an indication of the patient's physiological state. It also enables the assessment of the level at which an individual is functioning.

3.How do you take the body temperature, pulse rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure of the patient?

- The body temperature of the patient can be taken through mouth, armpit or rectum. Pulse rate can be determined by placing two fingers on the pulse of the patient. Sphygmomanometer is used to get the blood pressure.  while respiratory rate is usually measured when a person is at rest and simply involves counting the number of breaths for one minute by counting how many times the chest rises.

4.  What are some practices that the home nurse must follow that will promote comfort to the patient?
- The home nurse must be able to relate to the patient by knowing how the latter feels. In this way, the home nurse knows how to handle the patient. The home nurse should do what's expected of her like taking vital signs and giving the right dosage of medicine at the right time.

5.  How will you differentiate signs from symptoms of illnesses and diseases?
- A symptom is what the patient experiences about illness, injury or disease. Symptoms can only be experienced, they are not able to be observed or measured objectively. Pain is a symptom.
 A sign is an objective physical manifestation of illness, injury or disease. It is an objective finding, something one can be observe and measure. A rapid pulse, a high temperature, a low blood pressure, an open wound, bruising , etc. are all signs. Signs give more definite indication of the presence of a particular disease to the physician. Signs may be described as the current 'showcase' that the doctor observes in the patient and in the diagnostic testing and measurements.

6.  If you are the doctor, what will be your basis in giving the diagnosis for your patient?
- If I were a doctor, I will be based my diagnosis to the information that the patient tells me and the rest will come from various medical examinations and test. It's important that the patient tells his medical history to determine the real illness or disease.