Symptom management in hematological patients.

Signs and symptoms are among the most common reasons that patients seek healthcare. Being able to identify and distinguish what constitutes a sign or symptom in practice is an important part of nurses’ clinical expertise. Symptoms are multidimensional, complex and subjective phenomena that ‘‘reflect changes in biopsychosocial functioning, sensations, or cognition of an individual.’’ In contrast, signs are the objective abnormalities that indicate a disease or condition that are detectable by the individual or by others. Both signs and symtoms are important cues that bring problems to the attention of patients and clinicians. Signs and symptoms are also important because they impact the functional abilities and quality of life of patient with hematological diseases [4,7,10].