NR 507 Week 5 Primary Aldosteronism Concept Map Example

Course	NR 507 Advanced Pathophysiology
Week	5
Paper type	Concept map with narrative
Length	About 1,160 words, 3 pages
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Chamberlain University
Program	MSN, nurse practitioner core
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for NR 507 Week 5

Concept Map With Narrative: An Aldosterone-Producing Adenoma in a 44-Year-Old Woman, From One Adrenal Cell to Her Blood Pressure, Her Cramps, Her Nocturia and a Suppressed Renin, With Every Arrow Labeled

Student Name

College of Nursing, Chamberlain University

NR 507: Advanced Pathophysiology

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title fixes both ends of the map, the cell and the findings, and promises labeled connectors. Student APA 7 title page.

The Patient at One End

Ms. A., 44, a school librarian, was referred for hypertension that remained at 168/102 mm Hg despite three medications. She reported leg cramps, fatigue and waking twice each night to pass urine. She had no edema. Her serum potassium was 2.9 mmol/L and bicarbonate 32 mmol/L. Plasma aldosterone was high and plasma renin activity was suppressed, giving a markedly raised aldosterone-to-renin ratio, and adrenal imaging showed a 1.4 cm left adrenal nodule. The Endocrine Society's guideline recommends case detection for primary aldosteronism in exactly this group, including people with resistant hypertension and those with hypertension and hypokalemia (Funder et al., 2016).

The map below runs from a single cellular event at one end to her findings at the other. It uses few boxes, each stating a change rather than naming a disease, and every connector carries a verb.

The Map

Each row is one arrow: the box it leaves, the label it carries and the box it reaches. Rows 8 and 11 close loops back toward earlier boxes.

Table 1

Concept Map as Labeled Connectors, Cell to Findings

No.	From	Arrow label	To
1	Adenoma cells in the zona glomerulosa secrete aldosterone without regard to renin	binds mineralocorticoid receptors in	Collecting duct principal cells: more sodium channels open
2	Collecting duct principal cells: more sodium channels open	reabsorb sodium and, with it, water into	Expanded extracellular volume
3	Expanded extracellular volume	raises cardiac output and pressure in	Blood pressure 168/102
4	Collecting duct principal cells: more sodium channels open	make the lumen more negative, driving secretion of	Potassium lost in urine
5	Potassium lost in urine	lowers	Serum potassium 2.9
6	Serum potassium 2.9	hyperpolarizes muscle membranes, producing	Cramps and fatigue
7	Serum potassium 2.9	reduces the collecting duct's response to ADH, producing	Dilute urine and nocturia
8	Expanded extracellular volume	stretches afferent arterioles and suppresses release of	Renin suppressed
9	Collecting duct principal cells: more sodium channels open	increase hydrogen ion secretion by intercalated cells, raising	Bicarbonate 32
10	Expanded extracellular volume	raises renal perfusion pressure, which increases	Pressure natriuresis: sodium escape
11	Pressure natriuresis: sodium escape	limits further volume gain, preventing	No edema

Note. Boxes state changes; arrows state mechanisms. Findings in bold in the narrative are the patient's own values.

Boxes That State a Change

The map begins with one event: adenoma cells secreting aldosterone without regard to renin. Normally, aldosterone production in the zona glomerulosa is driven mainly by angiotensin II and potassium, so it rises when volume is low and falls when volume is high. The adenoma breaks that link. Every other box is a change that follows from that break, and the map ends at findings a clinician can measure or a patient reports: blood pressure 168/102, potassium 2.9, bicarbonate 32, cramps, nocturia, suppressed renin and no edema. No box ends at the name of a disease, because the purpose of the map is to explain this woman, not to label her.

Arrows That Say Why

The central box is the collecting duct principal cell. Aldosterone binds its mineralocorticoid receptor and increases the number and activity of epithelial sodium channels on the luminal membrane and the sodium-potassium pump on the blood side. Sodium enters the cell from the urine and is pumped into the blood, and water follows, expanding the extracellular volume and raising blood pressure (arrows 1 to 3).

The same sodium movement explains the potassium loss. Sodium leaving the lumen without an accompanying anion makes the lumen electrically negative, which draws potassium out of the cell through its channels into the urine (arrow 4). The resulting hypokalemia hyperpolarizes skeletal muscle cells, making them harder to excite, which produces weakness, fatigue and cramps (arrow 6). Low potassium also reduces the collecting duct's ability to concentrate urine in response to antidiuretic hormone, so she makes more dilute urine and wakes at night to pass it (arrow 7). The alkalosis follows from increased hydrogen ion secretion in the same segment (arrow 9).

What this page is doingEvery connector carries a mechanism in words, so each arrow is a claim that can be checked.

Loops Drawn as Loops

Two loops matter, and both must be drawn back to earlier boxes rather than as straight lines. The first is the renin loop (arrow 8). The expanded volume stretches the afferent arterioles of the kidney and increases sodium delivery to the macula densa, both of which suppress renin release. In a normal adrenal, less renin would mean less angiotensin II and less aldosterone, closing a negative feedback loop. Here the loop is broken at the adenoma: renin falls, but aldosterone does not. That is why the combination of high aldosterone and suppressed renin is the key diagnostic finding (Funder et al., 2016).

The second loop is aldosterone escape (arrows 10 and 11). As volume expands, higher renal perfusion pressure and natriuretic peptides increase sodium excretion in other parts of the nephron, which limits further sodium retention. The body reaches a new steady state with somewhat higher volume and pressure, but without the progressive fluid gain that would produce edema. That is why Ms. A. has no edema despite an excess of a sodium-retaining hormone. Potassium loss, by contrast, does not escape, which is why her hypokalemia persists.

The Narrative Beside the Picture

Read from left to right, the map tells one story: a single adrenal nodule producing a hormone its regulating system can no longer switch off, and one kidney cell doing exactly what that hormone tells it to. The blood pressure, the potassium, the alkalosis, the cramps and the nocturia are five consequences of one cellular instruction. The suppressed renin and the absent edema are the body's attempts to correct it, one of which fails because the adenoma ignores the signal, and one of which partly succeeds.

The map also explains why treatment works. Removing the adenoma removes the unregulated source, and in unilateral disease, surgery is the guideline's recommended treatment. Spironolactone, by occupying the mineralocorticoid receptor, blocks the hormone's action at the principal cell, which is the central box of the map, and would be expected to correct the potassium and lower the pressure even if the adenoma remained (Funder et al., 2016).

Finally, the map shows what to watch after treatment. If the adenoma is removed, renin should rise again as the broken loop is restored, and the remaining adrenal gland, suppressed for years by the low renin and angiotensin II, may take weeks to recover its own aldosterone production. A potassium that climbs above normal after surgery would be the sign of that lag.

References

Funder, J. W., Carey, R. M., Mantero, F., Murad, M. H., Reincke, M., Shibata, H., Stowasser, M., & Young, W. F., Jr. (2016). The management of primary aldosteronism: Case detection, diagnosis, and treatment: An Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 101(5), 1889-1916. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2015-4061

The Chamberlain NR 507 Week 5 instructions

The Week 5 concept map asks you to map a disease process with a narrative. Points are attached to the starting event, the boxes and connectors, the mechanisms on each arrow, feedback loops, the link to clinical findings and treatment, and APA. Fix both ends of the map: one cellular event and the patient's findings. Keep boxes to statements of change. Write a mechanism on every arrow, so each one is a claim. Draw feedback loops back to earlier boxes rather than as straight lines. Use the narrative to tell the story the map shows, then explain how treatment works on it and what to monitor afterward.

Inside the NR 507 Week 5 example

The patient section describes Ms. A., 44, with blood pressure of 168/102 on three medications, leg cramps, fatigue and nocturia. Table 1 lists each arrow with the box it leaves, its label and the box it reaches, from adenoma cells secreting aldosterone without regard to renin. The boxes section explains how normal production is driven by angiotensin II and potassium. The arrows section explains how aldosterone binds the mineralocorticoid receptor in the principal cell, increases sodium channels and makes the lumen negative, drawing potassium out. The loops section draws renin suppression and aldosterone escape. The narrative section ties it together, explains that removing a unilateral adenoma removes the unregulated source and describes monitoring renin and potassium afterward.

Where the points sit in the NR 507 Week 5 rubric

Concept map rubrics in NR 507 typically score accurate pathophysiology, clear structure, labeled relationships, feedback mechanisms, linkage to findings and treatment, the narrative and APA. Labeled connectors are the row this map earns most, because every arrow states a mechanism that can be checked. Structure is credited for fixing both ends. Pathophysiology scores through the principal cell explanation. Feedback earns points because loops are drawn as loops. Linkage is credited when treatment and monitoring follow from the map. The narrative is credited for telling one story. Funder and colleagues' guideline supports treatment and monitoring. One reference completes APA. Monitoring renin after surgery shows the map predicts recovery as well as disease.

NR 507 Week 5 help: mistakes that cost points

Unlabeled connectors cost the most, because an arrow without words is a claim the writer declined to make. Another loss is a map crowded with boxes that name diseases instead of changes. Students also draw feedback as straight lines, skip the link to the patient's own values or write a narrative that repeats the boxes. Citations belong where a mechanism or treatment needs support. Any software works, or a table of connectors as here. A bigger map is not better; a clearer one is. Name your condition and an NR 507 concept map can be built with every arrow labeled. Every box should state a change, not a diagnosis.

Get a NR 507 Week 5 example written to your instructions

Send the mapping prompt from your section, the rubric, and any software or file type your instructor requires. We build a custom map to those requirements, labels on every connector, with the supporting narrative if one is asked for, and return it inside 24 to 48 hours. The first is free.

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NR 507 Week 5 questions, answered

Does the map need citations?

Usually yes, and they are easier to place than writers expect. A citation can sit on the connector it supports or in a short reference list keyed to numbered links, which keeps the picture clean. Sections vary on the convention, so the rubric decides. What is consistent is that an unsupported connection between two boxes is treated the same way an unsupported sentence would be.

What software does the example use?

Whatever the section allows. Maps have been submitted from presentation software, drawing tools, word processing tables and dedicated mapping applications, and none of that affects the grade as long as the file opens and the text is readable at normal zoom. Legibility is the only visual thing markers consistently comment on, so the example is built to be read on a laptop screen without magnification.

Is a bigger map a better map?

No, and it is often the opposite. A map earns credit for the connections it can defend, so adding boxes that nobody could challenge dilutes the ones that carry the argument. The version that scores well tends to look sparse and read densely, every path walkable from the initiating event down to a finding and back again without a step that has to be taken on trust.

Where can I find a free NR 507 Week 5 sample paper?

This page shows the complete Week 5 concept map of an aldosterone-producing adenoma, with the connector table, the principal cell explanation, two loops, treatment, monitoring and the guideline reference.

Why does aldosterone lower potassium in the NR 507 Week 5 map?

Sodium reabsorbed through extra channels in the collecting duct leaves the lumen electrically negative, which pulls potassium out of the cells and into the urine.