| Course | NR 302 Health Assessment I |
|---|---|
| Week | 8 |
| Paper type | Head-to-toe assessment write-up |
| Length | About 1,490 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 8
Head to Toe Write-Up: A 44-Year-Old High School Chemistry Teacher Examined in One Continuous Visit
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 302: Health Assessment I
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Head to Toe Write-Up: A 44-Year-Old High School Chemistry Teacher Examined in One Continuous Visit
Consent, Setting and Word List
The volunteer, Ms. N., is a 44-year-old high school chemistry teacher who stands for most of the school day. The examination took place in the skills laboratory from 1515 to 1610 on a weekday, with the instructor present for the second half. The student explained each part before doing it, told Ms. N. that she could decline any part or stop at any time, and recorded her verbal consent at 1515. She declined the breast and genital examinations, which were not required for this assignment and are not reported. A female classmate was present as chaperone throughout.
The evening before, the student wrote one page listing the describing words for each region from the course text (Jarvis & Eckhardt, 2024): shade and site words for skin; symmetric, midline and moves with swallowing for the neck; loudness, pitch, length and position for breath sounds; the 0 to 4+ scale for pulses; soft, firm, slack and taut for the abdomen; and the 0 to 5 scale for muscle strength. The page was on the counter during the examination, which is why the last regions below carry as many describing words as the first.
General Survey and Measurements
Position: sitting on the side of the table, gown on, feet on the step.
General appearance: alert; answered questions promptly and in full sentences; dressed in a gown with her own socks; sat upright without support; no visible distress.
Height: 165 centimeters, measured standing without shoes against the wall scale.
Weight: 68 kilograms, on the standing scale, in the gown.
Body mass index: 25.0, calculated from the two measurements above.
Temperature: 36.8 degrees Celsius, oral, electronic thermometer.
Pulse: 76 beats per minute, right radial, counted for one full minute, regular.
Respirations: 14 per minute, counted for one full minute, even and quiet.
Blood pressure: 124/78 millimeters of mercury, right arm, seated, adult cuff, after 5 minutes of rest, with her back supported and feet flat as Ball et al. (2023) describe; 122/78 millimeters of mercury in the left arm.
Oxygen saturation: 98 percent on room air, right index finger.
Pain: 0 out of 10 at rest; she said her feet ache at the end of a teaching day.
Skin, Head, Eyes, Ears, Mouth and Neck
Position: sitting, as above.
Skin: light brown on the face and arms, the same on the trunk; warm and dry; smooth; turgor returns in under 2 seconds over the collarbone; a 3-millimeter round, flat, even brown spot on the back of the right hand with smooth edges; no other lesions on the areas examined.
Hair and nails: hair dark brown with gray at the temples, even over the scalp; nails pink, smooth, with color returning in under 2 seconds after pressing for 5 seconds.
Head and face: round, symmetric; face movements equal on both sides when asked to raise the eyebrows, close the eyes tightly and smile.
Eyes: whites white; lining pink; pupils 4 millimeters, round and equal, narrowing to 2 millimeters to direct light and to light shone in the other eye; eye movements full in six directions; read the 20/20 line on a pocket card at 14 inches with glasses.
Ears: outer ears intact; canals pink with a little soft wax; eardrums pearly gray with a cone of light on both sides; heard a whispered word at 2 feet from each ear.
Mouth: lips pink and moist; 30 teeth, 2 with silver fillings; gums pink and firm; tongue pink, moist and midline; roof of the mouth and back of the throat pink; uvula rises in the midline.
Neck: symmetric; windpipe midline; thyroid moves up with swallowing, soft, not enlarged to touch; no nodes felt in any of the neck groups; full range of motion without pain.
Chest, Lungs and Heart
Position: sitting for the back; then lying with the head of the table at 30 degrees for the front and heart.
Chest: symmetric; both sides rise together; expansion about 4 centimeters at the 10th rib on a deep breath, equal.
Tapping, back: resonant from the top down to the 10th rib on both sides.
Breath sounds, back and front, right and left in pairs from top to bottom: soft, low-pitched, with the breath in longer than the breath out at the lower spots on both sides; medium pitch and equal length between the shoulder blades and beside the upper breastbone; no added sounds at any of the 12 spots.
Heart, five areas, diaphragm, then bell at the apex: two sounds at each area, the second louder at the base and the first louder at the apex; nothing heard between them; rate 76, even.
Apical impulse: a small, brief tap in the 5th intercostal space at the left midclavicular line.
Neck veins, at 30 degrees: pulsation visible 1 centimeter above the collarbone.
Abdomen
Position: lying flat, a pillow under the knees, arms at her sides.
Look: flat from the ribs to the pubic bone; symmetric; navel inward and midline; a pale, 12-centimeter horizontal scar just above the pubic hairline, which she says is from a cesarean birth 15 years ago.
Listen: soft gurgling in all four areas, between 6 and 12 in one minute each; no whooshing over the midline.
Tap: hollow in all four areas; liver span about 8 centimeters at the right midclavicular line.
Feel, light then deep, left lower last: soft and slack in all four areas under light pressure; soft under deep pressure, with no firm structures felt; liver edge not felt; no discomfort in any area at either pressure.
Arms, Legs, Muscles and Nerves
Position: lying for the legs; sitting again for strength, reflexes and walking.
Pulses, right and left together: radial 2+ and 2+; dorsalis pedis 2+ and 2+; posterior tibial 2+ and 2+ on the 0 to 4+ scale.
Legs: warm and the same color on both sides; hair present over both shins; no swelling after pressing for 5 seconds over each ankle; fine spidery veins behind both knees; calluses, yellow and hard, on the ball of each foot, which she says come from standing in school shoes.
Joints: shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles moved through their full range without pain or clicking.
Strength: grip, arm push and pull, hip lift and knee bend and straighten graded 5, the top of the 0 to 5 muscle scale, right and left alike.
Reflexes, reflex hammer: biceps, knee and ankle 2+ and equal on both sides.
Sensation: light touch with a cotton ball felt on both hands and both feet with her eyes closed; the student could not test vibration because no tuning fork was available, and this row is left marked not done.
Walking: steady, even steps across the room and back; walked heel to toe along a line without losing balance; stood with feet together and eyes closed for 20 seconds without swaying.
Summary
Ms. N. was examined from head to toe in one visit of 55 minutes, sitting for the general survey, head and neck, back and nerves, and lying for the front of the chest, the abdomen and the legs. Measurements were within the adult ranges printed on the course form. Findings that stood out from the other entries: a small, even brown spot on the back of the right hand; two silver fillings; an old cesarean scar; fine spidery veins behind both knees; and calluses on the balls of both feet. Vibration sense was not tested. The student reports these observations and does not draw conclusions from them, which is the task of later courses.
What Was Hard
Stamina was the difficulty the course had warned about. By the time the student reached the legs, 45 minutes in, she noticed she was writing warm, pink, fine, and had to look at the word list to recover the describing words she had used for the arms. Keeping the list on the counter was the single most useful thing she did. Bickley et al. (2021) describe a sequence for the comprehensive examination that minimizes how often the patient changes position, and following that sequence also helped the record read as one visit, because the position changes above are the same ones Ms. N. actually made.
The second difficulty was the temptation to reuse earlier weeks. The student had written good entries for skin, lungs and abdomen already, on other volunteers, and pasting them in would have been faster. It would also have produced measurements that did not match this person and findings she did not have. Writing every line from this visit, even the ones that looked like earlier entries, was slower but was the only way the record could describe Ms. N.
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.
Bickley, L. S., Szilagyi, P. G., Hoffman, R. M., & Soriano, R. P. (2021). Bates' guide to physical examination and history taking (13th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Jarvis, C., & Eckhardt, A. (2024). Physical examination and health assessment (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Reading the NR 302 Week 8 instructions
The final assignment asks for a complete head-to-toe assessment of a volunteer, written up in one document covering every system practiced in the course. Expect the form to ask for consent, a general survey and vital signs, each system in order and a summary, sometimes with a reflection. The assessment must come from one continuous visit, not pasted from earlier weeks. Prepare a list of describing words for each region in advance so the later regions do not thin out. State the volunteer's posture at the top of each block. Include units with every measurement. Mark any row you could not perform with the reason. The summary lists findings that differed and stops short of a diagnosis.
How the NR 302 Week 8 example is put together
The paper opens with consent, the 1515 to 1610 visit and the word list prepared from Jarvis and Eckhardt (2024). The general survey gives height, weight, a body mass index of 25.0, temperature, pulse, respirations, blood pressure in both arms after five minutes of rest following Ball et al. (2023) and oxygen saturation. Skin through neck are recorded sitting. Chest, lungs and heart move from sitting to 30 degrees. The abdomen is examined flat with a cesarean scar noted. Limbs, joints, strength, reflexes, sensation and walking come last, with vibration marked not done. A summary lists what differed. The reflection describes stamina and the temptation to reuse earlier weeks.
NR 302 Week 8 rubric: what full points look like
Head-to-toe rubrics typically grade completeness across all systems, consistency of detail from start to finish, accuracy of measurements with units, organization by position, professional documentation of consent and an appropriate summary. Consistency carries special weight in this final assignment, which is why the last region has the same density of describing words as the first. Completeness scores when every row has an entry or a reason. Measurements earn credit with units and method, such as blood pressure after rest with the back supported. Organization by posture makes the record readable. A summary that reports instead of diagnosing meets the scope expected in a beginning assessment course.
NR 302 Week 8 help: mistakes that cost points
Top of the list is a document assembled from earlier weeks, which shows because measurements disagree and the person changes between blocks. Next is a late region shrinking to a phrase because the writer ran out of words. Empty rows, posture missing, units left off, terms used two ways and a summary that turns into a diagnosis all lose points. Missing consent costs marks where the section asked for it. A region written up but never examined cannot be recovered. Build your word list from the textbook's describing words per region. Do not reuse earlier write-ups. Send your notes from the visit, and an NR 302 head-to-toe write-up can be drafted from them.
Get a NR 302 Week 8 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 8 instructions and the full form, and a custom head to toe example is written into every row it prints, in your section's own terms, and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. The hour somebody gave you, and the paper they signed to make it possible, are not things any service can hand over.
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 7: Abdominal Assessment Write-Up
- NR 304 Week 8: Comprehensive Assessment Paper
- NR 293 Week 8: Polypharmacy Medication Care Plan
- NR 324 Week 8: Discharge Summary Paper
- NR 283 Week 8: Sepsis Final Case Paper
NR 302 Week 8 questions, answered
Can I reuse the write-ups from earlier weeks?
Reuse the wording, never the findings. Collecting the phrasings that worked in weeks three to seven is exactly the preparation this assignment rewards, and a list of them on your desk is legitimate. Pasted paragraphs are a different matter and they show, because the numbers stop agreeing and the person described drifts. Going back to the same volunteer for a fresh hour is usually simpler than reconciling old text.
How do I build the word list the page keeps mentioning?
Take the describing terms your text uses for each region, write them on one sheet in the order the form runs, and keep it beside you while you examine. It is a legitimate aid. The point is not memory. It is that a term you can see is a term you will use, and the regions people write badly are the ones they wrote from recall.
Does the summary need a conclusion about the person's health?
Not in this course. The closing section says what was found and where it was found, and flags anything you would pass on to somebody senior. Turning a set of findings into a condition, or into a plan, is what the courses after this one are for. Stopping at the description is not modesty; it is the actual instruction, and write-ups that overshoot it lose marks for the overshoot.
Where can I find a free NR 302 Week 8 sample paper?
The full Week 8 head-to-toe write-up on Ms. N., from consent and vital signs through every system to the summary, is available to read on this page.
Why is one row marked not done in the NR 302 Week 8 example?
No tuning fork was available, so vibration sense could not be tested; the row is marked not done with its reason instead of being left empty or filled in without testing.