Distinguish symptoms from signs as signals of disease.

Question

Accepted Answer

Hi, everyone. Our next question says which of the following is classified as a sign of a disease. A edema b nausea, C itching or D body pain. Well, this one's a little bit confusing just because it relies on vocabulary that is used differently just in, you know, regular everyday usage versus medical usage. And that's this word sign and it's as opposed to symptoms. So sign versus symptom of a disease. So a sign of a disease is a manifestation of a disease that is observable to a physician or outside observer. Put something that is objective where is a symptom of a disease is a manifestation of a disease that's observable to the patient themselves. So it's a subjective experience. And then we can note that as a result, a symptom is something that is not measurable. So, with that distinction in mind, let's look at our answer choices, noting that we are looking for something that's a sign of a disease observable from the outside to a physician. So choice. A we have edema edema is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the tissues, this leads to swelling and it's a sign of some sort of underlying disease. Well, is this observable by a physician? Yes, it is a physician and nurse can see swelling in the body, swelling of the tissues. It can be observed. It can be measured. So, choice a right away is a sign rather than a symptom. So we know our other answer. Choices must be incorrect as we only one will be correct. But let's just touch on them, each of them to be thorough. Choice. B nausea. Well, nausea would be a symptom as it's a sensation of discomfort in the stomach. And that's something that the patient experiences and can talk about. But there's no way for the physician to observe or measure this. It's that subjective experience of sensation experienced by the patient. So not what we're looking for, try see itching again, it's that sensation of irritation in the skin. This would also be a symptom. Now note if the itching is accompanied by a rash, a rash would be a sign as that could be observed. But itching itself is a symptom. It's again a sensation experienced by the patient. So choice D not correct and then choice d body pain. Again, this is also a symptom as it's that ache or discomfort experienced by the patient felt by the patient, not directly measurable or observable by the physician. Now, there's been attempts, as you often see a pain scale where people would report their pain from 1 to 10. But again, that's a subjective experience what one person might experience as a two, another person might experience as a 10. So body pain is going to be a symptom being something that is experienced by the patient not observed from outside. So our answer here for the choice that's classified as a sign of the disease is choice a edema. See you in the next video.

Distinguish symptoms from signs as signals of disease.

Verified Solution

Key Concepts

Symptoms

Signs

Differentiation between Symptoms and Signs