| Course | NR 442 Community Health Nursing |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Windshield survey write-up |
| Length | About 1,140 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | RN-to-BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 442 Week 2
Windshield Survey of Harlan Crossing: Who Owns What in a Composite Rural Town of 2,900
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 442: Community Health Nursing
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Windshield Survey of Harlan Crossing: Who Owns What in a Composite Rural Town of 2,900
Boundary, Day, Hour and Route
The survey covers the incorporated limits of Harlan Crossing, a composite farming town of about 2,900 residents in the rural Midwest, as drawn on the county assessor's municipal boundary map. That line matters because services inside the town limits, such as the water system, streets and code enforcement, belong to the town, while those outside belong to the county or to township government. The survey was driven and partly walked on a Monday between 1500 and 1800 in early October, in clear weather, starting at the grain elevator on the north edge, following Main Street south through the business district, and looping through the residential grid to the east and west. The route crossed the town line twice, on the state highway at the south end and at the county road to the east, and observations beyond the line are marked. A weekday afternoon shows school release, the end of the farm workday and business hours; it does not show weekend activity or evenings.
Housing
Observed: Mostly single-family frame houses built before 1960 by their style; on 14 blocks walked, 9 houses had visible structural decay such as sagging porches or missing siding, and 4 were vacant with boarded windows. A 24-unit apartment building for older adults sits two blocks from Main Street. A mobile home park of about 40 units lies just outside the town line to the south.
Owner: Housing code enforcement inside town limits belongs to the town, which has one part-time building inspector. The mobile home park outside the line falls under the county, which has no rental housing inspection program, so conditions there have no inspecting office at all. The senior apartment building is owned by a nonprofit and financed through a federal rural housing program, which carries its own inspection requirements.
Transport
Observed: No fixed-route public transit. Sidewalks on Main Street and about half of the residential blocks; many broken or missing. A regional demand-response van was seen once, picking up an older woman at the senior apartments.
Owner: Sidewalks belong to the town's street department, although the town's ordinance places repair of sidewalks in front of private homes on the owner. The demand-response van is operated by a regional transit agency funded partly through the federal rural transit program; rides must be booked a day ahead, according to the notice posted at the senior apartments.
Food Access
Observed: One small grocery store on Main Street with a limited produce section; a dollar store at the south end on the state highway; a gas station with a convenience store. A sign on the church advertises a monthly food pantry.
Owner: Retail food establishments are licensed and inspected by the county health department's environmental health division under the state food code. The pantry is run by the church with food from a regional food bank. The school district runs free and reduced-price school meals through the federal child nutrition programs, and the principal's sign announced summer meals, which means some children depend on the school for food when it is closed.
Health Services
Observed: A clinic building on Main Street with a sign for a rural health clinic, posted hours Monday to Thursday 0800 to 1700, closed Friday through Sunday. A pharmacy next door, open until 1800 on weekdays and closed on Sunday. A former hospital building on the west edge, closed, with a sign directing emergency patients to a hospital 34 miles away. An ambulance garage marked for a volunteer ambulance service.
Owner: The clinic is operated by a regional health system and certified as a rural health clinic under federal rules, which affects how Medicare and Medicaid pay it. The ambulance service is a volunteer service licensed by the state emergency medical services office; the county does not fund it directly. The closed hospital building is privately owned, and no public office is responsible for replacing the emergency care it once provided. The nearest emergency department is outside the county.
Safety and Open Space
Observed: A fire station with a sign for the Harlan Crossing Fire Protection District; a sheriff's patrol car passed once; a town park with an older playground and a public swimming pool closed for the season; a grain elevator with trucks queued on the state highway.
Owner: The fire district is a separate taxing district covering the town and surrounding townships. Law enforcement comes from the county sheriff, since the town has no police department. The park and pool belong to the town; the pool is inspected by the county health department during its season. Grain elevator safety falls under federal occupational safety rules, which no local office enforces.
Published Figures for the Same Ground
For comparison with what the drive showed, the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey publishes estimates for incorporated places, including towns of this size, though with wide margins of error for small populations (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). The survey's observation of an older population, an apartment building for seniors and a volunteer ambulance service is consistent with the kind of age structure these estimates typically show for small rural towns, and the next assignment will pull the town's own estimates for age, income and vehicle access. Where a published figure and an observation disagree, for example if the estimates show few households without a vehicle while the demand-response van appears to be the only way some residents travel, the disagreement will be recorded as a finding. County-level indicators from County Health Rankings (University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, 2024) cover the whole county rather than the town, and the assessment will mark that difference wherever a county figure is used.
Impressions to Test
Three impressions come out of the drive, each labeled as an impression. First, emergency care is distant, since the hospital closed and the nearest emergency department is 34 miles away, served by a volunteer ambulance. Second, older adults without cars depend on a van that requires a day's notice, which does not fit illness that arises suddenly. Third, housing conditions outside the town line have no inspecting office. Each will be tested against published data and interviews in the community assessment. The survey also recorded assets: a rural health clinic, a pharmacy, a school meal program, a church pantry, a fire district and a nonprofit senior housing provider, all of which a later plan would work through. Rector and Stanley (2022) describe the windshield survey as a first look that shapes the questions a full assessment must answer, and these three impressions are those questions.
References
Rector, C., & Stanley, M. J. (2022). Community and public health nursing: Promoting the public's health (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. (2024). County health rankings & roadmaps. https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). American Community Survey 5-year estimates [Data set]. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://data.census.gov/
Reading the NR 442 Week 2 instructions
Week 2 sends you out to watch a community closely and write down what is there and who runs it. Look for requirements covering the boundary and conditions, observations across domains, health and social resources, published data for comparison, impressions to test and APA. Tie your boundary to a published map. Record the day, hour and route, because later claims depend on them. Write what you saw separately from what you infer. For each observation, find the office or body that owns it, and notice where ownership changes at a boundary. Record posted hours and distances exactly. Set published figures beside your observations. Label impressions as impressions, each with its test, and list assets.
How this NR 442 Week 2 example is built
The boundary section uses the assessor's map and gives the day, hour and route. The housing section reports 9 of 14 walked blocks with visible decay and assigns code enforcement to the town's part-time inspector, noting that the mobile home park outside the line falls to a county with no inspecting office. Transport records no fixed-route transit, broken sidewalks and a regional van, with owners named. Food access lists one small grocery, a dollar store, a gas station and a church pantry, and names the county environmental health division as inspector. Health services record the rural health clinic's hours, the pharmacy and the closed hospital 34 miles from the next emergency department. Safety covers the fire district and the sheriff. Census and County Health Rankings data follow.
Reading the NR 442 Week 2 grading rubric
Windshield survey rubrics in NR 442 usually reward a defined boundary and conditions, systematic observation across domains, separation of observation from inference, identification of resources and gaps, use of published data, testable impressions and APA. Separating observation from inference is the row most surveys lose, and this one keeps it by writing "observed" and "owner" separately in each domain. The boundary row is credited because it rests on a published map. Resources and gaps score through exact hours, distances and the mobile home park with no inspecting office. Published data earn points for being set beside the same ground. Impressions are credited for being labeled and paired with tests. Rector and Stanley frame the domains.
NR 442 Week 2 help from the desk
Most points on this survey disappear where observation and inference blur, such as recording that an area is poor when what was seen was a boarded storefront. Another loss is a boundary that is never defined, so no later figure can be matched to it. Students also skip absences, describe residents rather than conditions or present impressions as findings. Naming the owner of each feature is what makes this course's survey different, so do not leave it out. The area can be a composite if your course allows. Walking, biking or a car all work if you record the route. If you have field notes from your own drive, send them and an NR 442 survey can be organized by observation and owner.
Get a NR 442 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the template your section supplies, the rubric and the notes you took on your own route, and we will write a fresh NR 442 Week 2 windshield survey built around your area rather than ours. It returns inside 24-48h, filled into your grid if there is one, and the first is free.
More NR 442 papers and RN-to-BSN samples
- NR 442 Week 1: Public Health Authority Discussion
- NR 442 Week 3: Community Assessment
- NR 442 Week 4: Population Health Analysis
- NR 442 Week 5: Epidemiology Write-up
- NR 442 Week 6: Health Promotion Plan
- NR 442 Week 7: Community Teaching Plan
- NR 442 Week 8: Reflection
- NR 446 Week 2: Communication Self-assessment
- NR 441 Week 2: Rwanda Country Health Profile
- NR 447 Week 2: Leadership Self Assessment
- NR 439 Week 2: PICOT Question Worksheet Example
NR 442 Week 2 questions, answered
Should the area be named?
Name it. This course turns on jurisdiction, and an unnamed area cannot be attached to a health department, a code enforcement office or a school district, which is where the survey earns its value. Sections requiring anonymity usually accept a tract number or a described boundary instead, and the ownership column can still be completed from either of those.
Does it have to be done from a car?
In many sections it does not. Walking or riding a bus route often produces the better record, because sidewalk condition, shelter seating and the real walking distance from a stop to a clinic door are invisible at driving speed. What the grader wants is the method stated plainly, since the method explains which observations were available to the writer at all.
How much published data belongs in this week?
Enough to test what was seen and not enough to replace it. One or two indicators drawn for the same ground, carrying a year and a publisher, gives the observation column something to disagree with. A survey padded out with county statistics loses the thing it was set for, which is a record of what a person can actually see from the street.
Where can I find a free NR 442 Week 2 sample paper?
This page has the complete Week 2 windshield survey of Harlan Crossing, with the boundary, observations and owners by domain, published figures, three tested impressions and three references.
What gap in ownership does the NR 442 Week 2 survey find?
The mobile home park sits just outside town limits, where the county is responsible, but the county has no office that inspects it, so no public body checks its housing conditions.