Charting Patient Symptoms: A SOAP Method Analysis

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Perhaps, if a situation happened where a patient came in with a chronic cough, there are some questions that I would ask him/her. This is a collection of subjective, and objective data that I will be collecting from the patient to pass on to the Physician to help them make an assessment. “SOAP charting is very common.” (Correa, Dahl, Lindh, Morris, & Tamparo, 2018). There are a quite a few forms of charting, but this is the most common. First, I will discuss some of the questions I would ask my patient. Furthermore, I will give reasons of why I would be asking these questions.
First, I would ask how long the cough has been going on. Verifying from the patient that it has in fact, been going on for three weeks. Because I’m a sufferer …show more content…

What does the cough sound like? Is it a wheezing sound, or dry cough? Finding out what the cough sounds like and feels like can give the Physician more information about what the next test could be. Wheezing is typically asthma, while other noises mean other things. Is it a wet or dry cough? This is also a great question to ask when trying to get the patient to describe the cough. Mucus can be very descriptive as to what’s going on. Wet or dry, “it’s caused by mucus dripping down your throat (due to either allergies or a cold), which tickles nerve endings, triggering coughing, Dr. Parsons says.” (Levine, 2015). In addition, this could also be a sign of allergies. Either way, getting this information gives the Physician really good information about what the cough is …show more content…

Again, being an asthma sufferer myself I know that my cough gets worse at night. Laying down is especially difficult. “Other telltale symptoms: The cough gets worse at night or while exercising chest tightness; shortness of breath; fatigue.” (Levine, 2015).
Fourth, I would ask the patient what they are taking for the cough. Finding out what kind of over the counter medications the patient is taking is important. This will give the Physician a better idea of what might be working for them. Perhaps, the medications themselves could be irritating the cough, so this is all good information.
Finally, I would ask the patient about past family history. Conceivably, there could be a history of smoking. Smoking can cause a long series of illnesses. Maybe a parent died from lung cancer, had asthma, or even emphysema. Regardless, it’s important to gather all family history from the patient because all of these factors help the Physician determine their

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