| Course | MSW 528 Medical Social Work I |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Psychosocial assessment |
| Length | About 540 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Social Work (MSW) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MSW 528 Week 2
Psychosocial Assessment of H., 72, on Day 3 After a Right-Hemisphere Stroke: The Apartment in Measurable Terms, the Conditions of a Bedside Interview, Supports With Hours Attached and the Question Handed to Physical Therapy
Student Name
Chamberlain University
MSW 528: Medical Social Work I
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Psychosocial Assessment of H., 72, on Day 3 After a Right-Hemisphere Stroke: The Apartment in Measurable Terms, the Conditions of a Bedside Interview, Supports With Hours Attached and the Question Handed to Physical Therapy
Sources and Conditions
Bedside interview with H., October 4, 2:15 to 2:35 p.m., after physical therapy; H. was tired and twice asked to stop for a minute. The roommate's television was on. Telephone call with H.'s daughter, K., October 4, 6:10 p.m. Chart review. No home visit.
Medical Context, Briefly
Right-hemisphere ischemic stroke on October 2. Left arm and leg weakness. Speech clear. The team notes some inattention to the left side, which H. does not seem to notice. Physical therapy: stands with a quad cane and one person's help; has not attempted stairs.
The Home
Second-floor apartment in a two-unit house. Fourteen steps from the sidewalk to the door, one handrail, on the right going up, which means on the left going down. Bathroom: tub with a shower and no grab bar. Bedroom and kitchen on the same floor as the bathroom. No elevator. H. owns the car released this week from the tow lot.
The house sits on a corner lot with no off-street parking; the car is parked on the street, about 60 feet from the bottom step. Groceries and laundry have to come up the fourteen steps by hand.
Supports, With Hours
K., daughter, lives 25 minutes away, works weekdays from seven until half past three, can stay overnight on weekends; has two school-age children. A neighbor downstairs collects H.'s mail and has a key but works evenings. H.'s church sends a volunteer driver on Sundays. No paid help. No one is available on weekday mornings. Health care social work standards ask for exactly this kind of account of the support system (National Association of Social Workers, 2016).
Written as hours, the supports cover weekends well and weekday evenings partly. They leave a gap from early morning until mid-afternoon on weekdays, which is when H. would be alone with the stairs.
What Arrived by Telephone
K. reported that H. fell on the steps last winter and did not tell anyone for a week. K. also said H. "will not go to a nursing home, period." H. did not mention the fall when asked about falls.
Assessment
H. is independent and has been managing alone. The main barrier to going home is the stairs: fourteen steps, with the only rail on the weak side coming down, and no one home on weekday mornings. Cognitive and attention effects of a right-hemisphere stroke may affect H.'s judgment of risk. The hospital's discharge planning evaluation must consider whether the patient is likely to need post-hospital services and whether those services are available (Condition of Participation: Discharge Planning, 2024).
The Question Handed Back
To physical therapy: Can H. go up and down fourteen steps with the rail on the left going down, with one person's help, by the projected discharge date? The answer decides between home and a rehabilitation setting.
References
Condition of Participation: Discharge Planning, 42 C.F.R. ยง 482.43 (2024).
National Association of Social Workers. (2016). NASW standards for social work practice in health care settings. National Association of Social Workers.
The Chamberlain MSW 528 Week 2 instructions
The psychosocial assessment has to be read before rounds, so keep it short and make every line usable. Describe the home in measurable terms: steps, rails and which side, where the bathroom is, what the shower has to hold. Record the conditions of the interview, such as time, fatigue and noise, since they affect what the answers mean. List supports with the hours they can actually cover, not adjectives like supportive family. Separate what arrived by telephone from what the patient said, especially when they disagree. Give a brief assessment of the main barrier. End by handing back the specific question that would decide the plan, addressed to the discipline that can answer it.
Inside the MSW 528 Week 2 example
The sources section records a 2:15 p.m. bedside interview after therapy, a tired patient, a roommate's television and an evening call with the daughter. A brief medical section gives the stroke, left-sided weakness and inattention. The home section lists fourteen steps, a rail on the right going up, a tub without a grab bar and rooms on one floor. Supports are given in hours: a daughter free on weekends, a neighbor in the evenings and a Sunday driver, with weekday mornings uncovered. The telephone section records a fall last winter that H. did not mention. The assessment names the stairs as the barrier and cites the rule in Condition of Participation: Discharge Planning (2024). The closing question asks physical therapy whether H. can manage the steps.
Where the points sit in the MSW 528 Week 2 rubric
An assessment can be complete and settle nothing, and that takes the largest deduction: every heading filled and still no answer to whether this person can get through the front door. Next is a home written in adjectives. Credit goes to measurable facts, recorded interview conditions, supports with hours and sources kept separate. A brief assessment that names the main barrier earns marks. The closing question, addressed to the right discipline, shows the writer knows what decides the plan. Brevity counts, since the reader has minutes. Any rule or standard cited needs an APA entry, and the patient's own words should appear where they matter.
MSW 528 Week 2 help from the desk
Assessments most often fail by filling every heading with general statements and never naming the barrier. Another frequent problem is describing the home as adequate or accessible without a single number. Some merge the family's account and the patient's, hiding a disagreement that matters. Others end with a recommendation for placement, which belongs to the team. For a patient whose barrier is something else, perhaps no working phone or a spouse with dementia at home, keep the same discipline: measurable facts, conditions, hours and the one question that decides. A strong version for your patient fits on a page and could be checked by a home visit.
Get a MSW-528 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 2 instructions with whatever assessment form your classroom issues, and a custom assessment written into that form comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. One limit worth stating outright: a note sitting in a real hospital file belongs to that hospital and to that patient, so examples here are built from the case material you were given.
More MSW 528 papers and MSW samples
- MSW 528 Week 1: Tow Lot Task Post
- MSW 528 Week 3: Rounds Participation Write-up
- MSW 528 Week 4: Discharge Plan Draft
- MSW 528 Week 5: Benefits Eligibility Write-up
- MSW 528 Week 6: Insurance Authorization Appeal
- MSW 528 Week 7: Safe Discharge Case Analysis
- MSW 528 Week 8: Hospital Practice Reflection
- MSW 529 Week 2: Illness Trajectory Paper
- MSW 526 Week 2: Breath Practice Log
- MSW 525 Week 2: TF-CBT Versus Bounce Back
- MSW 524 Week 2: Acute, Complex, Developmental Brief
MSW 528 Week 2 questions, answered
What if the patient cannot answer questions?
Then the document says so in the conditions section and becomes a collateral assessment, which is a normal outcome rather than a failed one. Confusion, intubation and exhaustion are all ordinary here. Name who supplied each fact, mark what nobody could confirm, and say what would have to be asked once the patient is able to answer. Assessments that invent a history to fill the space are marked hard.
Does the assessment say where the person should go?
It names the question rather than answering it, in most versions of this assignment. The assessment establishes what a destination would have to provide, stairs and hours and money included, and the plan built on it comes later in the term. Sections vary on this, and where yours asks for a recommendation, keep it to a line and tie it to facts already recorded above.
What if the family describes the home differently from the patient?
Record both and mark the disagreement, because that gap is frequently the most useful thing in the document. A man says he manages the stairs and his son says he has been sleeping in the chair for a month. Neither is lying. Write what each said, note who has seen the house most recently, and let the discharge decision account for the difference.
Where can I find a free MSW 528 Week 2 sample paper?
You can read the complete MSW 528 Week 2 psychosocial assessment of a stroke patient here, with margin notes on measurable facts and sources.
What question does the MSW 528 Week 2 sample hand back to the team?
Whether H. can manage fourteen steps, with the only rail on the weak side coming down and one person's help, by the projected discharge date.