| Course | NR 360 Information Systems in Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Patient teaching handout |
| Length | About 810 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | RN-to-BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 360 Week 6
Your INR Results in the Patient Portal: A Teaching Handout for Adults Starting Warfarin
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 360: Information Systems in Healthcare
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Your INR Results in the Patient Portal: A Teaching Handout for Adults Starting Warfarin
Your INR Results in the Patient Portal
You are taking warfarin, a medicine that helps stop blood clots. You will have a blood test called an INR every week or two at first. The INR shows how long your blood takes to clot. Your care team uses it to decide your warfarin dose.
Your INR result will show up in the patient portal, often within a few hours of your test. Sometimes you will see it before anyone from the clinic calls you. This handout tells you how to find it, what the numbers mean for you, and what to do if a number worries you.
Step 1: Sign In
Go to the portal website or open the portal app on your phone.
Type your username and password. If you forgot them, tap Forgot password and follow the steps.
If you do not have a smartphone or computer, you can still get your results. Ask the clinic to call you with every INR, or ask a family member you trust to help. You do not need the portal to get good care.
Step 2: Find Your INR
Tap Test Results.
Look for INR or PT/INR. The newest result is at the top.
You will see a number, such as 2.4, and your goal range, such as 2.0 to 3.0. Your goal range is set by your care team for you. It may be different from a friend's.
Step 3: What Your Number Means
Inside your goal range: Good. Keep taking your warfarin the same way unless the clinic tells you something new.
A little below or above your range: This happens often. The clinic will call or send a message, usually within one business day, to tell you if your dose should change. Do not change your dose on your own.
Far above your range, for example 5 or higher: Call the clinic the same day. If it is after hours, call the after-hours number on the back of this page.
The result may show a red flag or the word High or Low. That flag means the number is outside the usual range for most people. It does not always mean something is wrong for you.
Get Help Right Away If You Have These Signs
Call 911 or go to the emergency room if you have any of these, no matter what your INR is:
Bleeding that will not stop after 10 minutes of pressure.
Vomit that looks like coffee grounds, or black or red stool.
A very bad headache, sudden weakness, trouble talking, or feeling confused.
A fall where you hit your head.
Step 4: Send a Message or Ask a Question
Tap Messages, then New Message. Choose Anticoagulation Clinic.
Write your question in a few words, for example: My INR is 3.6. Should I take my warfarin tonight?
The clinic answers messages on weekdays, usually by the next business day. Do not use messages for anything urgent. Call instead.
Things That Can Change Your INR
New medicines, including antibiotics and some pain relievers. Tell the clinic about any new medicine.
Big changes in foods with vitamin K, like spinach, kale and broccoli. You can eat these foods. Keep the amount you eat from week to week about steady.
Alcohol, being sick, or missing a dose.
Notes for the Nurse Using This Handout
This page is not for the patient. Because the information blocking provisions that followed the 21st Century Cures Act discourage delaying patients' access to their own results, many health systems now post finished laboratory values to the portal automatically, often before a clinician has reviewed them (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, n.d.). A large survey of portal users found that most patients preferred to receive results immediately even when a clinician had not yet reviewed them, but that a meaningful share of those who received abnormal results reported increased worry (Steitz et al., 2023). The handout is designed for that gap: it tells patients what their number means for them, separates a common out-of-range result from a dangerous one, and makes clear that they should not change their own dose. The reading level was checked with a readability tool, and the handout was reviewed by two patients from the anticoagulation clinic, who asked for the emergency signs to be placed before the messaging instructions, as they now are. Nurses should review the goal range with each patient, write the clinic's phone numbers on the back, and confirm whether the patient can use the portal at all before relying on it.
References
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. (n.d.). Information blocking. HealthIT.gov. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://www.healthit.gov/topic/information-blocking
Steitz, B. D., Turer, R. W., Lin, C.-T., MacDonald, S., Salmi, L., Wright, A., Lehmann, C. U., Langford, K., McDonald, S. A., Reese, T. J., Sternberg, P., Chen, Q., Rosenbloom, S. T., & DesRoches, C. M. (2023). Perspectives of patients about immediate access to test results through an online patient portal. JAMA Network Open, 6(3), Article e233572. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.3572
NR 360 Week 6 instructions, in plain terms
The Week 6 assignment asks you to develop a patient teaching handout related to a health information technology. The assignment sheet tends to list content suited to the patient, plain language at an appropriate reading level, clear steps, safety information, a rationale for the design and references. Write to the patient in the second person, with short sentences and one idea each. Name the situation the handout is for. Give steps the patient can follow on a phone or computer, and an option for those without one. Separate what to do about an alarming result from routine information. Keep the policy background and evidence for the nurse in a clearly marked section.
How this NR 360 Week 6 example is built
The opening tells the patient what warfarin and INR are and explains that results may appear before the clinic calls. Step 1 covers signing in and a path for patients without a smartphone. Step 2 shows how to find INR or PT/INR and the goal range. Step 3 explains what a number inside, a little outside or far above the range means, with 5 or higher calling for a same-day call, and explains the red High or Low flag. A separate block lists signs that need 911, such as bleeding that will not stop after 10 minutes or a fall with a head strike. Step 4 shows how to send a message. A list covers medicines, vitamin K foods, alcohol and illness. The nurse's notes close the paper.
Where the points sit in the NR 360 Week 6 rubric
Patient handout rubrics generally award points for accuracy of content, readability and plain language, organization, attention to safety, appropriateness for the audience, the rationale and references. Readability and audience fit carry the most weight, and this handout earns them by writing to the patient at about a sixth-grade level with short steps. Accuracy is credited because the INR guidance tells patients not to change their dose themselves and to call for high readings. Safety scores through the separate emergency block and the after-hours number. Organization earns points from numbered steps that follow the portal screens. The nurse section gives the rationale, citing the information blocking rules and Steitz and colleagues, without putting it in front of the patient.
NR 360 Week 6 help: mistakes that cost points
The largest loss on this handout is writing to the instructor rather than the patient, in a formal tone full of clinical terms. A second is explaining where results appear without saying what to do when a number looks alarming. Students also tell patients to adjust doses themselves, leave out patients who have no smartphone, or put references and policy on the patient's page. Long paragraphs defeat the reading level. Show the reading level with a readability score in your rationale if the course asks for one. Covering part of the portal is fine if it is the part that matters for the task. If your topic is a different portal feature, describe it and an NR 360 handout can be written at the right level.
Get a NR 360 Week 6 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 6 instructions from your classroom, the rubric and any template or reading-level target you were given. We write a custom NR 360 teaching handout plus its accompanying note to those requirements and return both inside 24-48h. The first one is free, and the patient population it is written for is yours to name.
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NR 360 Week 6 questions, answered
Does the handout need references on it?
The patient-facing page normally carries none, because citations belong to a different reader and interrupt the instructions. The sources go in the accompanying note, where the writer explains the reading level chosen, the layout decisions and the teaching approach, each supported. Check your classroom, since a minority of sections do ask for a short source line at the foot of the page.
How do I show the reading level?
By writing at it and then saying so with evidence. A finished example names the level targeted, reports the measure used, and points to a sentence or two as illustration. Claiming an easy reading level above a page dense with clinical nouns is a contradiction a marker catches at once, so the demonstration counts for more than the claim.
Can the handout cover only part of the portal?
Often it works better that way, and many sections allow it. A page teaching results and messaging thoroughly beats one skimming six features. What the narrower version still owes the reader is where the rest of it lives and how to get help, so nobody leaves believing the portal holds nothing else.
Where can I find a free NR 360 Week 6 sample paper?
The complete Week 6 handout on reading INR results in the patient portal, with the four steps, the emergency signs, the factors that change INR and the nurse's notes, is on this page.
What does the NR 360 Week 6 handout tell patients to do with an INR of 5 or higher?
Call the clinic the same day, or the after-hours number if the clinic is closed, and not change the warfarin dose on their own.