| Course | NR 393 Nursing History |
|---|---|
| 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 393 Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: An Ordinary Practice With a History
The Care Plan I Update Every Shift, and When It Arrived
Initial Post
Every shift on my medical unit, I open each patient's nursing care plan in the electronic record, review the nursing problems listed, mark goals as progressing or met, and add or resolve problems. Most nurses I work with describe it as paperwork. I wanted to know where it came from, and the answer surprised me: the idea that nursing follows its own organized process, with its own assessments, its own problems and its own plans, is younger than many of the nurses I trained under.
As best I can date it, the practice entered American nursing between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s. Nurse theorists of that period described nursing as a deliberate process rather than a set of tasks. Ida Jean Orlando, writing in 1961, described nursing as a disciplined process of responding to the patient's immediate needs, based on what the nurse perceives, thinks and does, and checking with the patient whether the action helped (Orlando, 1961). A few years later, Yura and Walsh (1967) laid out the nursing process in the sequence nursing students still learn: assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating. By the early 1970s, national nursing organizations were building standards and a classification of nursing problems around that process. I am hedging these dates, because the history of ordinary practices is argued over, and the terms were used differently by different writers.
What did it displace? Before the nursing process, much of what nurses did was organized by physician orders and hospital routine: medications, treatments and procedures, done on time and recorded. Nursing care planning gave nurses a documented reason for their own judgments. That was contested at the time and still is. Supporters saw it as a way to make nursing knowledge visible and teachable, and to claim that nursing was a profession with its own field of practice. Critics, including some nurses, saw written care plans as time taken from patients and argued that experienced nurses already reasoned this way without writing it down. That argument is still alive on my unit every time someone calls the care plan paperwork.
The road not taken is interesting to think about. Nursing could have remained organized mainly around medical orders and tasks. Instead, it built a separate framework, and the care plan I update is its visible remnant. Did anyone else find that a routine they thought was purely bureaucratic had a professional argument behind it?
Reply to a Classmate
The two-identifier check before medications you traced is a great choice because it looks timeless and is actually recent as a formal rule. I would be curious whether you found a moment when it became a national requirement rather than a local habit. My understanding is that it became a Joint Commission patient safety goal in the early 2000s, but nurses were checking wristbands long before that. If so, the interesting question is what changed when a habit became a rule, and whether it changed how nurses thought about the check.
References
Orlando, I. J. (1961). The dynamic nurse-patient relationship: Function, process and principles. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
Yura, H., & Walsh, M. B. (1967). The nursing process: Assessing, planning, implementing, evaluating. Catholic University of America Press.
What the NR 393 Week 1 assignment asks for
The first NR 393 forum has you pick a practice from your own shifts and look for where it came from. Look for requirements covering a specific practice, when and how it began, what it replaced or changed, a historical source and a peer reply. Begin with a routine you actually perform, described plainly. Date its arrival as closely as you can, and hedge where the history is argued. Use sources from the period when possible, not only modern summaries. Ask what the practice displaced, and state both sides if the change was contested. Name the road not taken. In your reply, add a historical question rather than praise, such as when a habit became a rule.
Inside the NR 393 Week 1 example
The first paragraph describes opening each care plan, reviewing problems, marking goals and adding or resolving problems, and notes that most colleagues call it paperwork. The second dates the nursing process to the mid-1950s through the early 1970s, cites Orlando on a disciplined process of perceiving, thinking and acting and Yura and Walsh on assessing, planning, implementing and evaluating, and explains why the dates are hedged. The third asks what the process displaced: work organized by physician orders and hospital routine. It notes that critics saw the process as paperwork while supporters saw it as nursing's own framework. The fourth names the road not taken. The reply asks a classmate when the two-identifier check became a formal rule.
Reading the NR 393 Week 1 grading rubric
Chamberlain discussion grading for NR 393 typically looks at answering each part of the prompt, historical accuracy and insight, use of sources, connection to current practice, peer interaction and APA, along with timely posting. Historical insight earns the most when the post treats the practice as a decision someone made, which the section on what was displaced achieves. Accuracy is credited for dates supported by sources and hedged where uncertain. Source use scores because Orlando and Yura and Walsh are works from the period itself. The current practice row is met by starting from the care plan the writer updates every shift. The peer reply earns points by asking a historical question about when a habit became a rule.
NR 393 Week 1 help: mistakes that cost points
The costliest post is a tribute that praises a historical figure warmly and says nothing a classmate could dispute. Next is a routine described with no date attached, so the history never begins. Students also cite only a modern textbook, present a contested change as simple progress, or give exact dates where the record is uncertain. A post that skips what the practice replaced misses the week's main question. Replies that agree without adding a question rarely earn full peer points. Keep details about your own hospital general. If a practice you use every shift seems to have a story, tell us which one and an NR 393 Week 1 post can be dated with you.
Get a NR 393 Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 1 prompt exactly as your classroom words it, plus the routine on your unit you want traced, and a custom example is written to that prompt and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. Posting it, borrowing its shape or setting it aside is entirely your call.
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NR 393 Week 1 questions, answered
Does the post have to name a historical figure?
Not necessarily. A practice can be traced to a reform, a war, a licensure act or a hospital training system with no single person at the middle of it. Where a figure does appear, the useful thing about them is the position they argued for and the opposition they beat, since that is what a reader can weigh. Admiration is not evidence.
How much can be said about my own hospital?
Firsthand detail is the strongest material available here, provided the employer stays unidentified and no patient appears. Give the kind of unit and the rough size of the team instead of the place, keep the routine general enough that nobody is identifiable, and the post keeps its specificity without carrying anything a nurse should not publish in a classroom thread.
Is a source needed for a first week discussion?
Usually at least one, and the choice matters more than the count. A secondary history of the reform, an association's account of its own founding, or a document from the period all carry weight. A general textbook paragraph carries less, because it reports an outcome without showing anyone arguing for it. Use whatever citation style the classroom sets.
Where can I find a free NR 393 Week 1 sample paper?
The complete Week 1 post on the history of the nursing care plan, with the hedged dates, what the process displaced, the road not taken, the reply and two period sources, is on this page.
When does the NR 393 Week 1 post date the nursing process?
Between the mid-1950s and the early 1970s, citing Orlando in 1961 and Yura and Walsh in 1967, and it hedges the dates because the history of ordinary practices is debated.