| Course | NR 305 Health Assessment for the Practicing RN |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with one reply |
| Length | About 520 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | RN-to-BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 305 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Assessment at Work and What Reaches the Record
The Crackles I Heard and the Word Clear I Charted
Initial Post
The piece of assessment I want to write about happened at 0800 last Thursday on the medical unit where I work. A man in his seventies admitted two days earlier with a heart failure exacerbation was improving, and his morning assessment was, by our unit's standards, routine. When I listened to his lungs, I heard faint crackles at the right base that cleared partly when he coughed, and I noticed he was sitting more upright than the day before and had one more pillow behind him. He said he had slept badly because he felt short of breath lying flat around 0300 and had pushed himself up.
Here is what reached the record. Our respiratory flowsheet has a dropdown for breath sounds, and the first option is clear. I selected crackles, right lower lobe, which was accurate. But the pillow, the 0300 episode and the fact that the crackles partly cleared with coughing went nowhere, because the flowsheet has no field for them and I did not write a note. At report, I told the day nurse who took over at noon, and she knew. The next morning's nurse, the hospitalist reading the chart and anyone looking back later would see crackles, right lower lobe, and nothing else.
Health assessment texts describe orthopnea, needing to sit up to breathe comfortably, and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, waking breathless at night, as subjective findings that often signal worsening heart failure, and they are recorded in the history because the patient reports them rather than the nurse observing them (Jarvis & Eckhardt, 2024). My assessment gathered both. My documentation kept neither. What reached the record was one objective finding without the story that gave it meaning. If the crackles had been from a new pneumonia, the record would look the same, which means the record could not help anyone tell the difference. A single sentence in a note would have preserved it.
I think the gap comes from what shift assessment is built for: speed and a handoff to someone who already knows the patient. The dropdowns capture what is quick to click, and the story travels by voice. My question for classmates is whether your units have any way to record the subjective part of a focused assessment, or whether it lives only in report as it does on mine. I would especially like to hear from anyone on night shift.
Reply to a Classmate
The wound you described, measured carefully at the bedside and then recorded only as stage 2, healing, is a good match for my crackles. In both cases the assessment was thorough and the record kept a label rather than the finding. I wonder whether your unit's wound flowsheet has fields for length, width and depth that nobody uses, as ours does. If it does, the fix may not be a new form but a habit of using the fields that already exist, which would let the next nurse see whether the wound is actually getting smaller.
References
Jarvis, C., & Eckhardt, A. (2024). Physical examination and health assessment (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Reading the NR 305 Week 1 instructions
The opening discussion of this RN-to-BSN assessment course asks you to reflect on how you assess patients in your own practice and what makes it into the record. Expect an initial post using one specific example from work, connected to the week's reading, plus replies to classmates by the course deadlines. Keep any patient details non-identifying. The prompt usually has more than one part, so answer each one, often both what you assess and how it is documented. Your experience counts, but it must be tied to course concepts. A short example told precisely is better than a long shift story. Replies should connect a classmate's example to the same issue.
How this NR 305 Week 1 example is built
The post opens on one moment: 0800 last Thursday, a man in his seventies two days into a heart failure admission. It describes what the nurse gathered, including the extra pillow and the breathless episode at 0300, then what reached the flowsheet: crackles, right lower lobe, and nothing more. A paragraph uses Jarvis and Eckhardt (2024) to name orthopnea and paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea as subjective findings recorded in the history. The writer then suggests the gap comes from flowsheets built for speed and handoffs by voice. The closing question asks how classmates' records hold the story. The reply links a wound recorded only as stage 2 healing to the same gap.
NR 305 Week 1 rubric: what full points look like
Discussion grading in this course generally weighs a specific example from practice, connection to course concepts, analysis, a substantive reply and APA. The example row rewards a moment described precisely enough that no classmate could have written it. Connection to concepts is credited when the reading names the findings correctly, as the textbook does for orthopnea here. Analysis scores when the post explains why the gap occurs, not just that it does. The reply earns its share by linking another nurse's example to the same documentation issue and proposing a check. Protecting patient privacy and answering every part of the prompt also count toward the grade. A complete reference entry for the assessment text rounds it out.
NR 305 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost points
Two patterns lose the most here. One is a post built from definitions, holistic assessment praised with nothing the writer actually did. The other is a good shift story never connected to the week's material. Identifying details, a citation attached to no claim, a multi-part prompt answered in part, late replies and a closing line that asks nothing all cost points. Experience matters in this course, but only when you analyze it. You can write about a patient you cared for if details are removed. Most sections want two replies. Describe the shift moment you plan to use, and the post can be written so it meets the reading head on.
Get a NR 305 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 1 prompt from your classroom and a line about the setting you work in, and a custom example is written to that prompt and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. What you have seen at work stays yours to describe.
More NR 305 papers and RN-to-BSN samples
- NR 305 Week 2: Health History Write-up
- NR 305 Week 3: Focused Assessment Write-up
- NR 305 Week 4: Concept Map
- NR 305 Week 5: Head to Toe Write-up
- NR 305 Week 6: Case Study Analysis
- NR 305 Week 7: Patient Teaching Plan
- NR 305 Week 8: Reflection
- NR 306 Week 1: Discussion Post
- NR 300A Week 1: Independent Study Project Outline
- NR 307A Week 1: Discussion Post
- NR 351 Week 1: Discussion Post
NR 305 Week 1 questions, answered
Does experience count for anything in this course?
It counts for a great deal, and it is also the trap. Working nurses assess well and document briefly, so the habits that make a good shift make a thin assignment. The posts that do best use experience as material rather than as an argument, naming what was seen and then meeting it against what a written record is expected to hold.
Can I write about a patient I actually cared for?
Only in the general, with nothing that could identify anyone. Describe the setting by type rather than by name, leave dates out, and keep clinical detail to what the point needs. Examples here are built the same way, which keeps a graded discussion board clear of material that should never appear in one.
How many replies does the week usually need?
Check the prompt, since the number and the deadline both vary by section and both are commonly graded. What earns marks in a reply is engaging with the specific claim a classmate made rather than agreeing warmly. One substantive reply usually outscores three that begin by calling the original post interesting.
Where can I find a free NR 305 Week 1 sample paper?
The full Week 1 post on charting crackles while the 0300 breathless episode went unrecorded, with the reply about a wound note, is printed on this page.
What gap does the NR 305 Week 1 post describe?
The flowsheet captured crackles in the right lower lobe, but the extra pillow and the 0300 breathless episode, subjective findings that signal worsening heart failure, never reached the record.