In nursing documentation, SOAP stands for which of the following?

• A. Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan
• B. Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Protocol
• C. Subjective, Operational, Assessment, Plan
• D. Subjective, Objective, Analysis, Plan

Answer: (A)

SOAP notes organize patient documentation into four parts: Subjective data, what the patient reports; Objective data, what you observe or measure; Assessment, your clinical interpretation or working diagnosis; and Plan, the actions you will take, tests to order, treatments to administer, and follow-up.

This structure is the standard because it starts with the patient’s own experience, moves to observable facts, then your clinical reasoning, and finally the concrete steps for management. The correct expansion—Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan—fits this sequence precisely.

Other options introduce terms that aren’t part of the standard SOAP framework (like Protocol, Operational, or Analysis), so they don’t align with the established structure.