| Course | NR 436 Community, Public, and Population Health Nursing |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Windshield survey write-up |
| Length | About 1,210 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | RN-to-BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 436 Week 2
Windshield Survey of the Eastgate Corridor: Observations From a Four-Hour Assessment of a Composite Urban Neighborhood
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 436: Community, Public, and Population Health Nursing
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Windshield Survey of the Eastgate Corridor: Observations From a Four-Hour Assessment of a Composite Urban Neighborhood
Conditions of the Observation
The Eastgate corridor is a composite neighborhood of about 0.9 square miles built along a four-lane arterial road on the east side of a mid-sized Midwestern city. Its boundary for this survey is the arterial road itself and the blocks on either side of it for four streets, from the freight rail overpass at the north end to the county hospital campus at the south end. The survey was done on a Thursday in late October between 0730 and 1130, starting by car and finishing on foot, in dry weather at about 48 degrees Fahrenheit. A weekday morning shows commuters, school travel and the start of the business day; it does not show evening activity, weekend use of parks or anything that happens after dark, and those gaps are noted where they matter.
The observations below are grouped by domain rather than by route, following the windshield survey components described by Rector and Stanley (2022), so that each part of the corridor can later be compared with published data and with other neighborhoods. Counts were made wherever counting was possible, and businesses are recorded by what they do rather than by name.
Housing and Physical Environment
Housing along the arterial road is mostly two-story frame buildings with a storefront or empty storefront at street level and apartments above; behind the arterial, the side streets are lined with single-family frame houses on narrow lots, most built before 1950 by their style. On the eight side-street blocks walked, 146 houses were counted. Of those, 19 had boarded windows or doors, 11 had visible roof damage such as tarps or missing shingles, and 23 had peeling exterior paint over large areas. Six vacant lots were counted, four of them fenced and two open with dumped furniture and tires. Two blocks had new infill houses, both with for-sale signs. The older housing stock and peeling paint are relevant because houses of this age are likely to contain lead-based paint, which is a finding to check against the county's childhood blood lead data in the next assignment.
Streets, Sidewalks and Transport
The arterial road carries heavy traffic in both directions with a posted speed of 35 miles per hour; during a ten-minute count at 0815, 212 vehicles passed the midpoint, including 14 trucks. Signalized crosswalks were present at 3 of the 9 intersections along the corridor, a distance of roughly 0.4 miles between the northernmost two. At the unsignalized intersections, pedestrians were observed crossing mid-block, including a parent with two children and a stroller who waited nearly two minutes for a gap. On the side streets, sidewalks were missing or broken to the point of being impassable for a wheelchair on 5 of 8 blocks. One bus route runs the length of the corridor; the posted schedule shows buses every 30 minutes on weekdays and hourly on weekends, and 3 of its 6 stops had a shelter or bench. There are no marked bicycle lanes. Streetlights were present on the arterial road but only at intersections on the side streets, which may matter for evening safety and could not be judged during a morning survey.
Food, Services and Health Resources
No full-service grocery store was found within the boundary. Food was sold at two convenience stores, a dollar store with a small refrigerated section of milk, eggs and frozen items, a gas station mini-mart, and four fast-food restaurants. Fresh produce was found only at one convenience store, where a single display held bananas, onions and potatoes. The nearest supermarket, located by driving after the walking portion, is 1.7 miles south of the corridor, off the bus route. Health resources inside the boundary were one pharmacy, a storefront dialysis center, a plasma donation center and a substance use treatment clinic with a line of about a dozen people outside at 0800. The county hospital sits at the southern edge of the boundary, but its main entrance faces away from the corridor. No primary care office, dental office or urgent care clinic was found inside the boundary. Two check-cashing businesses and a pawn shop were open, and no bank branch was found.
Gathering Places, Signs of Community Life and People Visible
Gathering places included two churches, one with a sign advertising a Saturday food pantry and a weekday after-school program, a public library branch with shortened posted hours (open four days a week), a small park with a playground and a basketball court whose rim had no net, and a laundromat that appeared to function as a meeting place, with several adults talking outside. A community garden with raised beds sat on one of the fenced vacant lots, with a painted sign naming a neighborhood association. Signs in English and Spanish were seen on the church, the laundromat and the dollar store.
People visible during the morning included children walking to school in groups along the arterial road between 0740 and 0810, adults waiting at bus stops, older adults walking slowly with canes or walkers toward the pharmacy, and several people who appeared to be unhoused near the rail overpass, where a tent and bedding were seen under the bridge. Few people were seen jogging, cycling or using the park during the survey window. No police or security patrols were observed, and graffiti was present on about a third of the arterial storefronts.
Impressions to Test Against Published Data
Three impressions come out of this survey, and each is a hunch waiting on data rather than a conclusion. The first is that food access is limited for residents without a car, since the nearest supermarket is off the bus route and the stores inside the boundary sell little fresh food; this can be checked against the Food Access Research Atlas maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (n.d.) and against the share of households without a vehicle in census data. Walker et al. (2010) caution that distance alone does not establish poor diet, so this impression should be tested with price and purchasing data as well. The second is that pedestrian injury risk is high on the arterial road, based on long distances between signalized crossings, heavy truck traffic and children walking to school; county crash data for pedestrians would confirm or refute it. The third is that primary care access is poor despite the hospital next door, given the absence of any clinic inside the boundary and a hospital entrance that faces away from the neighborhood.
These impressions also reflect what the corridor has. The churches, library, community garden and neighborhood association are assets that any later plan would have to work through, and the bilingual signage suggests a Spanish-speaking population that published data should confirm. As Braveman and Gottlieb (2014) argue, the conditions that shape health are found in housing, transport and food long before they appear in a clinic, and this survey is a first record of those conditions in one place.
References
Braveman, P., & Gottlieb, L. (2014). The social determinants of health: It's time to consider the causes of the causes. Public Health Reports, 129(Suppl. 2), 19-31. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S206
Rector, C., & Stanley, M. J. (2022). Community and public health nursing: Promoting the public's health (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. (n.d.). Food access research atlas. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/
Walker, R. E., Keane, C. R., & Burke, J. G. (2010). Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: A review of food deserts literature. Health & Place, 16(5), 876-884. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.04.013
What the NR 436 Week 2 assignment asks for
The Week 2 windshield survey has you observe a community and document its physical and social features. Students are usually asked for the boundary and conditions of the observation, findings across standard domains, health resources present and absent, impressions about health risks and APA references. Record the day, hours and weather, and say what that timing cannot show. Group observations by domain rather than by route. Count what you can, such as traffic or bus stops. Record what is missing as carefully as what is present. Describe without judging the people you see. End with two or three impressions labeled as hunches, each paired with the published data that would test it, and list the community's assets.
Inside the NR 436 Week 2 example
The conditions section gives the corridor's size, the arterial road and side streets, the weekday morning hours and what that window misses. The housing section describes two-story frame buildings with storefronts below and apartments above, and the side streets behind. The transport section reports a posted speed of 35 miles per hour, 212 vehicles including 14 trucks in ten minutes at 0815, and long gaps between signalized crossings. The food and services section finds no full-service grocery store, only convenience stores, a dollar store and a gas station market, and no primary care or dental office. The people section notes children walking to school along the arterial. The impressions cover food access, pedestrian risk and primary care, with Walker and colleagues' caution about distance.
NR 436 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
Windshield survey rubrics usually award points for clearly stated conditions, thorough observation across domains, objective description, identification of resources and gaps, reasoned impressions linked to data, community strengths and APA. Objective description is the row most often lost, and this write-up keeps it by counting vehicles and listing absent resources instead of describing a friendly area. Conditions are credited because the timing and its limits are stated. Domain coverage scores through the structure from Rector and Stanley. Impressions earn points because each is labeled a hunch and paired with a test, such as the Food Access Research Atlas or county crash data. Recording churches, the library and the community garden meets the strengths row. Four references complete APA.
NR 436 Week 2 help from the desk
Most points on this assignment are lost when the write-up turns into travel writing, with warm sentences about character and charm that no data could confirm or refute. Another loss is skipping what is missing, such as a grocery store or clinic, which is often the most useful finding. Students also present impressions as conclusions, describe residents in judgmental terms or forget the time of day. Numbers matter: counts of stops, crossings and stores make the survey usable later. If you cannot visit in person, check whether your course allows a virtual survey with street imagery. Clinical hours and site forms must be your own. Send your field notes and an NR 436 windshield write-up can be organized by domain.
Get a NR 436 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 2 instructions your classroom posted, the rubric and the list of domains your instructor named, and we will produce a complete windshield survey write-up on a comparable area, laid out the way your section wants it. Turnaround is 24-48h, the first example costs nothing, and your own observations stay yours.
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NR 436 Week 2 questions, answered
What if the area cannot be visited in person?
Many sections allow a virtual pass using street imagery, transit maps and public listings, and some ask for exactly that. The write-up then states which parts were seen at street level, from what imagery, and how old that imagery is, because a picture taken three years ago cannot report a shop that closed last spring. Confirm what your own classroom permits before starting.
Do clinical hours or a signed site form get written for me?
Never. Your hours, the log behind them, the contact record and anything a community agency or preceptor signs belong to you alone, and we do not touch any of it. An example can only show you the shape of a finished write-up so you can see where your own material belongs. The street you covered and the entries you made remain entirely your work.
How much of the survey should be numbers?
Enough that the document could be argued with. A survey of pure prose leaves the grader nothing to check, while one counting blocks without sidewalks, produce sources within walking distance and buses per hour hands the community assessment something real to place against county rates. Most write-ups settle at roughly one countable observation inside every domain.
Where can I find a free NR 436 Week 2 sample paper?
This page shows the complete Week 2 windshield survey of the Eastgate corridor, its conditions, findings by domain, the recorded absences, three testable impressions, the assets and four references.
What does the NR 436 Week 2 survey record as missing from the corridor?
A full-service grocery store, a primary care office, a dental office and a bank, each treated as a finding that later assignments can test against published data.