This paper examines how the goal of
medicine is to reduce and try to prevent suffering and how suffering is sometimes ignored
due to the difficulty of quantifying suffering into readable data. It looks at how critical attributes are
characteristics of the concept that appear over and over again in the concept's many definitions and how these characteristics help to distinguish the concept from other concepts. This paper gives examples of a model case, a related case, an illegitimate case, and a borderline case. It also talks about empirical referents, statements, propositions, and implications for practice. It shows how nurses care for those who suffer and how understanding the concept of suffering could assist nurses in recognizing the behavioral cues of those suffering, as well as assist in responding to suffering.