| Course | NR 302 Health Assessment I |
|---|---|
| Week | 7 |
| Paper type | Abdominal assessment write-up |
| Length | About 1,190 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | BSN (pre-licensure) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 302 Week 7
Abdominal Assessment Write-Up: A 31-Year-Old Parcel Van Driver Examined Two Hours After Lunch
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 302: Health Assessment I
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Abdominal Assessment Write-Up: A 31-Year-Old Parcel Van Driver Examined Two Hours After Lunch
Setting, Position and Area Names
The volunteer, Mr. B., is a 31-year-old parcel van driver who spends about nine hours a day behind the wheel. He ate a sandwich and a soda at 1200, emptied his bladder at 1350 and was examined in the skills laboratory at 1400. He reported no abdominal pain on arrival but said he has been having a bowel movement only every three days lately, which he puts down to long routes and not drinking enough water.
Position for every entry below: lying flat on his back, one pillow under his head, a small pillow under his knees so they were slightly bent, arms resting at his sides. The student warmed her hands and the stethoscope before starting.
Area names used in every entry: right upper, left upper, right lower and left lower, divided by imaginary lines crossing at the navel, as in the course text (Jarvis & Eckhardt, 2024). The same four names are used from the first row to the last.
Order: look, listen, tap, then feel, with light pressure in all four areas before deep pressure in any. Mr. B. was asked before starting whether any area was sore, and he pointed to the left lower area as feeling full, so that area was examined last with each technique.
Looking
Shape, viewed from his right side at eye level with the abdomen: slightly rounded from below the ribs to the pubic bone; no bulge in one area more than another.
Symmetry: the two sides matched when viewed from the foot of the table.
Skin: pale olive, same as the chest; a flat, pale, 4-centimeter scar in the right lower area, which he says is from an appendix operation at age 12; fine dark hair in a line from the navel down.
Navel: set inward, in the midline, no redness or drainage.
Movement: the abdomen rose and fell gently with breathing; no ripples of movement across the surface; a faint pulsation seen just above the navel in the midline.
Bulges on coughing or lifting his head: none seen at the navel, along the scar, or in the groin creases.
Listening
Technique: diaphragm of the warmed stethoscope placed lightly, for at least one minute in each area, before any tapping or pressing.
Right lower: soft gurgling and clicking sounds, about 10 in one minute, irregular.
Right upper: soft gurgling, about 6 in one minute.
Left upper: soft gurgling, about 8 in one minute.
Left lower: soft gurgling, about 5 in one minute, quieter than the right lower.
Over the midline above the navel, bell: no whooshing sound; the same over each side of the navel and in both groins.
Tapping
Right upper, right lower, left upper: a hollow, drum-like sound (tympany) over most of each area.
Left lower: hollow sound in the upper part; a flatter, duller sound over a patch about 6 centimeters across, just inside the left hip bone.
Liver span, tapped down from the chest and up from the belly along the right midclavicular line: dull sound between the 5th rib and just below the rib edge, about 9 centimeters.
Left side, lowest rib space in front of the midaxillary line: hollow sound on a breath in and a breath out.
Feeling
Light pressure, about 1 centimeter, fingertips together, in the order right lower, right upper, left upper, left lower:
Right lower: soft and slack; the wall gave easily and sprang back; warm; not uncomfortable.
Right upper: soft and slack; not uncomfortable.
Left upper: soft and slack; not uncomfortable.
Left lower: soft; slightly firmer than the other three areas, like pressing a half-filled pillow; he said it felt full but not painful. His face did not change and the muscles did not tighten under the hand.
Deep pressure, about 5 centimeters, one hand on top of the other, same order:
Right lower: soft; nothing firm felt; not uncomfortable.
Right upper, with a deep breath in: the lower edge of the liver felt as a smooth, soft, firm line brushing the fingertips about 1 centimeter below the rib edge; not uncomfortable.
Left upper, with a deep breath in: nothing felt under the ribs.
Left lower: a soft, slightly doughy, sausage-shaped fullness about 8 centimeters long and 3 centimeters across, running up and down just inside the left hip bone, which moved slightly under the fingers and did not pulse. He rated the pressure as uncomfortable, 3 out of 10, at deep pressure only, and the discomfort went away when the hand was lifted.
Midline above the navel, deep pressure: a pulsation felt under the fingers about 2.5 centimeters wide, moving straight up toward the hands, not to the sides.
Rebound (hand pressed slowly, then lifted quickly): not done; the student's section had not yet been checked off for it.
Summary of What Was Recorded
Mr. B. lay flat with knees supported and a relaxed wall throughout. The abdomen was slightly rounded and symmetric, with an old scar in the right lower area. Gurgling sounds were heard in all four areas, fewest in the left lower. Tapping was hollow in most areas with a dull patch in the left lower. Touch found a soft wall everywhere, a liver edge 1 centimeter below the ribs on a deep breath, a pulsation above the navel moving straight up, and a sausage-shaped fullness in the left lower area that was uncomfortable only with deep pressure. The student reported the fullness and the three-day bowel pattern to the instructor. She did not name a cause for either.
What Was Hard
Nothing in this region can be shown to another person. Skin can be photographed and lung sounds can be described by comparison, but the only evidence that a hand felt a firm, sausage-shaped fullness is the entry itself. The student's first draft of the feel section said soft and non-tender in all quadrants. It covered four areas and two pressures in four words, and it would have hidden the only finding that mattered. Writing each area twice, once for each pressure, doubled the length and made the record usable.
Counting the gurgling sounds was also uncomfortable, because the student was not sure the counts meant much. Felder et al. (2014) played recorded bowel sounds to clinicians and found that they agreed poorly and could not reliably tell normal sounds from those of a blocked or slowed bowel. That finding does not mean listening should be skipped, since the course requires it and it may still pick up a clear change over time, but it is a reason to write down exactly what was heard, with a count and a duration, rather than a label that claims more than listening can deliver. Ball et al. (2023) also advise listening for a full minute or longer before calling sounds absent, which is why each area has a time.
References
Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2023). Seidel's guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (10th ed.). Elsevier.
Felder, S., Margel, D., Murrell, Z., & Fleshner, P. (2014). Usefulness of bowel sound auscultation: A prospective evaluation. Journal of Surgical Education, 71(5), 768-773. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsurg.2014.02.003
Jarvis, C., & Eckhardt, A. (2024). Physical examination and health assessment (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Reading the NR 302 Week 7 instructions
For Week 7 you examine a volunteer's abdomen and document the findings, following the course sequence of inspection, auscultation, percussion and palpation. Expect the form to ask for findings in each quadrant, with light and deep palpation recorded separately, plus a reflection. Record the position and the time since the last meal at the top, because both change what you find. Use the same four area names in every row. Listen before you touch. Give counts and qualities for sounds instead of the single word present. Examine any sore area last. Anything firm needs a location, size, shape and response. Do not name conditions, and skip techniques your section has not checked you on.
How this NR 302 Week 7 example is built
The write-up opens with Mr. B., his nine hours a day driving, a sandwich at 1200, an emptied bladder at 1350 and the examination at 1400. Position and area names are set once, from Jarvis and Eckhardt (2024). Looking records shape, a 4-centimeter appendix scar and a faint midline pulsation. Listening counts gurgles per minute in each area, fewest in the left lower. Tapping finds tympany and a dull patch about 6 centimeters across. Light and deep pressure are recorded separately, ending with the left lower fullness and a 2.5-centimeter midline pulsation. Rebound is marked not done. The reflection discusses describing what only the hand can know and cites Felder et al. (2014).
NR 302 Week 7 rubric: what full points look like
Abdominal assessment rubrics usually reward the correct sequence, complete quadrant coverage, precise description, separation of light and deep palpation, attention to patient comfort and reflection. Sequence carries specific points, so listening before pressing is stated and followed. Precision is credited when sounds have counts and the firm structure has location, size, shape and response. Coverage scores when all four areas appear in every technique. Separating light from deep pressure shows technique. Examining the sore area last and recording his discomfort rating meets the comfort criterion. Marking rebound as not done, with the reason, protects accuracy. Reflection on the limits of bowel sounds shows critical reading of evidence.
NR 302 Week 7 help: mistakes that cost points
The most expensive line here is soft and non-tender for the whole belly: four words for four areas and two techniques. Describing what a hand felt in the words of sight, a firm area with no location or size, discomfort with no spot, pressure never named as light or deep, position missing from the top and an area that vanishes from later rows all lose points. Never name a condition. When something feels new to you, describe its size, shape, texture and movement. Order matters because pressing first changes the sounds. If you cannot tell a normal structure from a lump, describe it and ask. Send your quadrant notes for a write-up drafted area by area.
Get a NR 302 Week 7 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 7 instructions and the abdominal form your classroom posted, and a custom example is written into it in the order your section teaches and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. The person who lay down and let you press on them did that under an arrangement that is entirely theirs and yours.
More NR 302 papers and pre-licensure samples
- NR 302 Week 1: Describing a Finding Discussion Post
- NR 302 Week 2: Health History Interview Write-Up
- NR 302 Week 3: Skin Assessment Write-Up
- NR 302 Week 4: Head and Neck Assessment Write-Up
- NR 302 Week 5: Respiratory Assessment Write-Up
- NR 302 Week 6: Cardiovascular Assessment Write-Up
- NR 302 Week 8: Head to Toe Write-up
- NR 304 Week 7: Risk Assessment Write-up
- NR 293 Week 7: Levothyroxine Teaching Script
- NR 324 Week 7: Medication Management Case
- NR 283 Week 7: Alcohol Withdrawal Scenario Write-Up
NR 302 Week 7 questions, answered
How do I describe something I felt when I have never felt it before?
Reach for the ordinary words first. Warm, firm, smooth, springy and even are all usable and all accurate, and a grader would rather have five plain words than one borrowed term used loosely. The technical vocabulary for this region arrives over several weeks, and the record only has to be usable by a reader who never met your volunteer, not impressive.
Does the order of the techniques really matter?
It does, and it is usually one of the printed marking items, so it is worth stating in a line rather than only obeying. Pressing on a belly changes what it produces afterward, which means a record showing the hand before the stethoscope reports numbers that the writer's own examination altered. Writing the reason down converts obedience into a markable sentence.
What if I cannot tell whether something is a normal structure or a lump?
Describe it and say you could not tell. Where it sits, how big it is, whether it moved with the breathing, whether it was tender and how firm it felt are all recordable without deciding what it was. An honest line of that kind is worth full credit at this level, and it is a great deal safer than a confident label the rest of the entry cannot support.
Where can I find a free NR 302 Week 7 sample paper?
The complete Week 7 abdominal write-up on Mr. B., with counts in each area, light and deep pressure and the left lower fullness, is reproduced on this page.
Why does the NR 302 Week 7 example listen before pressing?
Pressing on the abdomen first can change the bowel sounds the listener is trying to record, so the course order puts listening for at least one minute per area before tapping or palpation.