| Course | NR 228 Nutrition, Health & Wellness |
|---|---|
| Week | 4 |
| Paper type | Life stage nutrition case |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | BSN (pre-licensure) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 228 Week 4
Life Stage Case: An 83-Year-Old Widower Whose Dentures No Longer Fit, and the Protein and Fluid His Age Now Asks For
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 228: Nutrition, Health & Wellness
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Life Stage Case: An 83-Year-Old Widower Whose Dentures No Longer Fit, and the Protein and Fluid His Age Now Asks For
The Person, in Five Lines
Mr. Henry B. is 83, a retired carpenter, whose wife died in January. Since then he has lived by himself in a one-story house, drives to the grocery store once a week, and cooks little; his wife did the cooking for 55 years. His upper denture has become loose since he lost weight, and he has stopped eating meat, raw vegetables and anything "that needs chewing." He weighs 66 kilograms, down from 72 kilograms a year ago, a loss of about 8%. He takes a blood pressure medicine and has no kidney disease on his last blood tests. Details are composite.
Physiology That Pays for Itself
Two nutrients change meaning at his stage, and each is followed here into what he can actually eat.
Protein. Muscle is lost with age, and losing weight without trying accelerates the loss. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein is the same for adults of all ages, 0.8 grams per kilogram, but an international study group reviewing protein needs in aging recommended that people over 65 take in at least 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram per day to maintain lean body mass and function, and more for those with acute or chronic illness (Bauer et al., 2013). For Mr. B., at 66 kilograms, that is about 66 to 80 grams of protein a day. His recent intake, estimated from a two-day recall, is about 45 grams, mostly from milk in his coffee and a slice of cheese.
Fluid. Older adults often feel less thirst than younger adults, and Mr. B. said he "doesn't think about drinking" except coffee in the morning. Less fluid means a higher risk of dehydration, constipation and confusion, and in a man living alone, of a fall at night. His urine is dark in the afternoons, by his own report. The practical target is steady fluid across the day, with water or milk at each meal and between meals, rather than one number he will not track.
Food This Person Will Actually Eat
Mr. B. eats soft foods only until his dentures are relined, which his dentist can do in about two weeks. So the plan uses foods that deliver protein without chewing: scrambled or boiled eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, canned tuna or salmon mashed with mayonnaise, bean soups, peanut butter on soft bread, and milk. Two eggs provide about 12 grams of protein, a cup of cottage cheese about 25 grams, and a cup of milk about 8 grams. A breakfast of two eggs and a glass of milk, a lunch of a cup of cottage cheese with canned peaches, and a supper of bean soup with soft bread would bring him close to 70 grams without anything that needs chewing.
He told me he likes chocolate milk and has not had it since childhood. A glass in the afternoon adds about 8 grams of protein and 240 milliliters of fluid, and it is something he said he would look forward to. That matters more than any nutrient figure: a man who has lost his wife and his appetite will eat what he enjoys.
Who Buys and Who Cooks
Mr. B. buys and cooks, and he has never cooked. The plan therefore asks for nothing that needs a recipe. Eggs in the microwave in a mug, canned soups with a can of beans stirred in, and ready-to-eat foods like yogurt and cottage cheese make up most of it. His daughter lives two hours away and calls on Sundays; she has offered to order groceries for delivery if he gives her a list, which removes the weekly drive in winter. A referral to his county's home-delivered meals program was discussed, and he agreed to try it for lunches on weekdays, which would give him one hot meal with meat that the program can prepare soft on request.
Amounts That Moved With the Stage
Three amounts differ for Mr. B. because of his age. Protein, as above, rises from the adult allowance of 0.8 grams per kilogram to at least 1.0 to 1.2 in the PROT-AGE recommendation. Calcium rises from 1,000 mg a day for younger men to 1,200 mg for men over 70, and vitamin D from 15 to 20 micrograms a day (Institute of Medicine, 2011); the milk, yogurt and cottage cheese in the plan serve calcium too, and whether he needs a vitamin D supplement should be settled by his own doctor. And his energy needs are lower than they were, which means each food he eats has to carry more nutrients: there is less room for foods that provide calories without protein.
The weight loss is the finding that makes all of this urgent. An 8% loss in a year in an 83-year-old is a reason to see his provider, not just to change his menu, and the plan includes a visit within two weeks, along with the dental appointment for the denture reline. Nutrition can support him, but it cannot rule out other causes of weight loss.
What Would Show It Is Working
The plan has three checks that Mr. B. and his daughter can carry out without a clinic. He will weigh himself every Monday morning on the bathroom scale his daughter bought, before breakfast, and write the number on the calendar by the phone; the goal for the first month is simply that the number stops falling. He will look at his urine color in the afternoon, and if it is dark, drink a glass of water or milk before supper. And on Sunday calls, his daughter will ask what he ate for breakfast and lunch the day before, which is a quick recall she can compare with the plan.
At the provider visit in two weeks, his weight, the denture appointment and his eating will be reviewed together. If his weight is still falling after the denture is relined and the meal deliveries have started, that would point away from chewing and toward another cause, such as depression after his wife's death, which is common and treatable and which he hinted at when he said that cooking for one "doesn't seem worth the trouble." The nutrition plan should not be allowed to hide that possibility by treating the weight loss as only a food problem.
References
Bauer, J., Biolo, G., Cederholm, T., Cesari, M., Cruz-Jentoft, A. J., Morley, J. E., Phillips, S., Sieber, C., Stehle, P., Teta, D., Visvanathan, R., Volpi, E., & Boirie, Y. (2013). Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: A position paper from the PROT-AGE Study Group. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 14(8), 542-559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2013.05.021
Institute of Medicine. (2011). Dietary reference intakes for calcium and vitamin D. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/13050
What the NR 228 Week 4 assignment asks for
The Week 4 case asks you to apply nutrition needs for a specific life stage, such as pregnancy, infancy, adolescence or older adulthood, to a patient described in the case or chosen by you. Expect the instructions to ask which needs change at that stage and why, what the person should eat, what barriers exist and how progress would be monitored, in an APA paper with sources. The physiology matters only as far as it changes the plate. Plans should fit who buys and cooks the food. Texture, budget and appetite count as much as nutrient targets. A strong case could not be moved to another age without rewriting most of it.
How this NR 228 Week 4 example is built
The case introduces Mr. B. in five lines: 83, a retired carpenter widowed in January, living alone and cooking little, with a loose upper denture. Two nutrients follow from physiology into amounts: protein at the PROT-AGE level from Bauer et al. (2013) and fluid for reduced thirst. A section lists soft foods he will eat, including chocolate milk he enjoys. Another shows the plan needs no recipes, since he has never cooked. Three amounts that changed with age are given, including calcium rising to 1,200 mg from the 2011 reference. The weight loss triggers a provider visit. Weekly Monday weights and a urine color check show whether the plan works.
Reading the NR 228 Week 4 grading rubric
Life stage case rubrics commonly reward accurate stage-specific needs, application to the individual, practical food recommendations, consideration of barriers, monitoring and APA. Application to Mr. B. is where most points sit, and the case wins them by turning each nutrient into foods a man without working dentures can eat. Accuracy rests on citing the protein recommendation for older adults and the calcium reference by age. Barriers count when the plan fits a person who has never cooked. Monitoring is credited when it can happen at home. Treating unplanned weight loss as a reason to see the provider shows the safety awareness these rubrics often include. Recommendations with amounts make each part easy to check.
NR 228 Week 4 help from the desk
The weakest papers keep the life stage in the headings while the advice would suit anyone. Physiology recited at length with no effect on the plate earns little. Advice for someone who neither buys nor cooks the food misses the real decision maker, especially for children and older adults. Adult portions applied to a child, pregnancy papers that list only foods to avoid, ignored texture problems and plans costing more than the household spends all lose points. Keep developmental theory short. When appetite is very low, start with small, preferred foods. Tell us the patient and life stage in your case, and an NR 228 paper can be written around that person.
Get a NR 228 Week 4 example written to your instructions
Send the case your classroom supplied, along with the rubric and any template, and a custom life stage example is written to that patient and returned inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. If your section lets you pick the person, tell us the age and the complication and we will build one that has something worth arguing about in it.
More NR 228 papers and pre-licensure samples
- NR 228 Week 1: One Food Discussion Post
- NR 228 Week 2: Three-Day Diet Analysis
- NR 228 Week 3: Eight Nutrient Report
- NR 228 Week 5: Therapeutic Diet Write-up
- NR 228 Week 6: Patient Teaching Handout
- NR 228 Week 7: Food Myth Analysis
- NR 228 Week 8: Nutrition Care Plan
- NR 283 Week 4: Concept Map
- NR 226 Week 4: Three Problem Nursing Care Plan
- NR 293 Week 4: Medication Safety Analysis
- NR 224 Week 4: Vital Signs Write-Up
NR 228 Week 4 questions, answered
Can I choose the patient myself?
Some sections supply the case and some let you build it, so check the instructions before investing in a person. If the choice is yours, pick a stage where something is genuinely in tension, appetite against requirement or budget against variety, because a healthy eater at an easy stage gives you very little to say and the paper drifts into a summary of a chart.
How much of the paper should be developmental theory?
Enough to justify the food and no more. One short passage tying the stage to the nutrient does the job: rapid growth raising iron needs, a shrinking appetite raising the value of every mouthful. Long theory sections are the usual place where the word count goes and the points do not follow it.
The patient in my case has almost no appetite. Where do I start?
With energy density and with timing rather than with variety. Smaller plates offered more often, a fortified drink between meals, the food eaten first at the hour when appetite is best, and full fat versions of things you would otherwise trim. Then say what would make you escalate, such as weight still falling after a stated number of weeks.
Where can I find a free NR 228 Week 4 sample paper?
The complete Week 4 life stage case on Mr. Henry B., with the protein and fluid targets, the no-chew foods and the home checks, is reproduced on this page.
How much protein does the NR 228 Week 4 example recommend?
It uses the PROT-AGE recommendation of at least 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram a day for adults over 65, above the 0.8 grams per kilogram allowance for younger adults.