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?

Always have a cheerful disposition when you are around the patient for him or her to be comfortable and not get nervous. You should also explain what you are doing and what it is for. The patient might get the wrong idea and start flailing or screaming. Maintain your personal hygiene so that bacteria will not be able to go to the patient, especially if the patient has a wound. 

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

Vital signs are important for any person. These are the measurements of your body temperature, pulse rate, blood pressure, and respiratory rate. Monitoring of vital signs may tell you what is wrong with the patient, and if he or she is recovering.

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

There are different ways of taking those vital signs. In taking the temperature, you need to have a thermometer (it is better if you use an electronic thermometer than the one that has mercury inside of it). There are three routes in which you can take the temperature; the mouth, the anal, and the armpit. Actually, the respiratory rate of a person is taken by the doctor (this is what Google told me and it was not discussed). In taking the pulse rate, use you index and middle finger. You need to press those fingers in line with the thumb. So, you will press it on your wrist. Sphygmomanometer is used to take the blood pressure of a person.

4.  What are some practices that the home nurse must follow that will
           promote comfort to the patient?

A home nurse must understand the feelings and needs of the patient. He or she should always smile with the patient. Be attentive to what the patient says. Also, a home nurse can adjust to the needs of the patient and find means and ways to answer all the needs of the patient. A home nurse should have a system of recording the vital sign, food intake, medicine, and frequency of urination and bowel movement in order to help the doctor assess the health status of the patient.

5.  How will you differentiate signs from symptoms of illnesses and
       diseases?

Illness, although often used to mean disease, can also refer to a person's opinion of their health, regardless of whether they have a disease or not. A person without any disease may feel unhealthy and simply have the opinion of having a disease. Another person may feel healthy with similar views of perfectly good health. Disease can be thought of as the presence of bacteria, which can occur with or without personal feelings of being unwell or social recognition of that state. Illness as the subjective state of "unwellness" and can occur independently of, or in conjunction with, disease or sickness.

6.  If you are the doctor, what will be your basis in giving the diagnosis for your patient?

I will base the diagnosis on what the patient tells me and from his or her past medical records. If he or she lies about his or her feelings, doing tests may help me discover the illness or disease he or she is facing. It may be blood tests, blood pressure tests, or those kinds of things.