| Course | NR 538 Population Health I: Assessment and Analysis of Data |
|---|---|
| Week | 8 |
| Paper type | Needs assessment report |
| Length | About 1,110 words, 3 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | MSN, Population Health |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 538 Week 8
Needs Assessment Report: Follow-Up After Lift-Assist Falls Chosen Over Four Rival Needs Among a Rural County's 14,200 Older Adults, With the Data, the Voices and the Ranking Printed Where a Skeptic Can Check Them
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 538: Population Health I: Assessment and Analysis of Data
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Needs Assessment Report: Follow-Up After Lift-Assist Falls Chosen Over Four Rival Needs Among a Rural County's 14,200 Older Adults, With the Data, the Voices and the Ranking Printed Where a Skeptic Can Check Them
Summary
This report sets out what the health department found when it assessed fall risk among the county's older residents. It recommends one priority need: older adults who fall at home, call the ambulance service for help getting up and receive no follow-up afterward. That need ranked first among five candidates using criteria and weights agreed before scoring. The report sets out the data behind the finding, what older adults said, how the needs were ranked and what the assessment could not show, so that partners and skeptics can check the reasoning rather than take it on trust.
The Population and the Sources
The assessment concerned residents aged 65 or older, a quarter of the county's 58,000 people, a share that has grown by about 10% since 2019. Four sources were used. The ambulance service's electronic patient care records identified lift-assist calls, in which a crew helped an older adult up after a fall without taking them to hospital. State hospital discharge data provided fall-related hospitalizations. Five rural peer counties, chosen in advance for similar age structure, income and rurality, provided a benchmark. A listening session with 14 older adults, telephone conversations with 15 recent lift-assist callers and interviews with meal delivery drivers provided community input.
Each source was appraised before use. The ambulance records are reliable for when, where and to whom a lift-assist call occurred, but not for the cause of the fall or minor injuries, because those fields serve no billing or reporting purpose. Hospital discharge data are reliable for admissions but miss injuries treated in the emergency department and released.
What the Data Show
Hospitalizations are flat, not falling. Fall-related hospitalizations among older adults have held at about 160 to 170 a year since 2019. The crude rate declined slightly because the older population grew, and the 2020 dip reflects the pandemic. Among five rural peer counties, our rate is about 7% above the median, which matches our older population's larger share of residents aged 85 or older.
Lift-assist calls are rising. After correcting for a 2022 change in the ambulance record system that had hidden most earlier lift assists, the call rate per 1,000 older adults climbed by roughly a quarter between 2022 and 2025, faster than population growth. In 2025, 212 older adults made 318 calls; 41 called three or more times. This concentration echoes a study of lift-assist calls in another American city, in which a third of addresses accounted for two-thirds of calls (Cone et al., 2013).
Falls are a national problem. More than a quarter of older adults nationally report falling each year, and falls cause tens of thousands of deaths among them (Kakara et al., 2023). Our county's numbers show no reason to think it is an exception.
What Older Adults Said
Older adults described fear of lying on the floor more than fear of injury, reluctance to call for help, and above all the absence of anything after a fall: no visit, no call and no check of the house. Several mentioned a strength and balance class that ended when its instructor retired. Telephone conversations with lift-assist callers confirmed these themes and added one: several repeat callers had fallen in the same way, at night on the way to the bathroom, and no one had suggested a night light or a bedside commode. Farm residents described outdoor winter falls. The listening session reached mainly connected, mobile older adults near the county seat; the telephone calls and interviews reached some of those it missed.
The Ranking
Five needs were ranked against criteria agreed in advance: size, seriousness, evidence of effective intervention, feasibility and community concern, weighted 25, 25, 20, 20 and 10%. Follow-up after lift-assist falls and the loss of strength and balance classes tied at 4.45 of 5. A tie-break rule agreed before scoring gave first place to the need with higher seriousness, which was follow-up. Isolation among people living alone ranked third, transportation fourth and outdoor farm falls fifth. The ranking held when all criteria were weighted equally.
Why This Need Rather Than the Others
Follow-up after lift-assist falls ranks first because it targets people who have already shown the risk, most of whom have not yet been seriously injured, and because an effective response exists. Pooled trials of exercise for community-dwelling older people show fewer falls, roughly a quarter fewer, among those who exercise (Sherrington et al., 2019), and follow-up visits can connect repeat fallers to exercise, home changes and medication review. The county also has the means to act: a community paramedic, a data agreement with the ambulance service and a senior center with space for classes.
The rivals are not dismissed. Strength and balance classes are the natural partner of follow-up and should be restored as part of the response. Social isolation is a real concern associated with poorer health in older adults (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [NASEM], 2020), but evidence that addressing it reduces falls is limited. Transportation and farm falls matter but scored lower on evidence and feasibility.
What the Assessment Could Not Show
The assessment was designed to be checked, and these limits are part of what a reader should check. It could not count all falls, only those reaching the ambulance service or hospital. It could not establish causes for most lift-assist falls, because the records do not capture them reliably. Its benchmark used crude rather than age-adjusted rates, which the state will supply next quarter. And its community input underrepresents homebound adults and the Spanish-speaking community despite efforts to reach them. None of these limits changes the ranking, but each should be addressed as the county plans its response.
Recommendation and Next Steps
The health department should work with the ambulance service and the Area Agency on Aging to design a follow-up program for older adults after lift-assist calls, beginning with repeat callers, including a home visit, a fall risk assessment and referral to a restored strength and balance class. Planning will begin next quarter, with the three indicators chosen in this assessment, repeat lift-assist callers, fall-related hospitalizations and hip fracture hospitalizations, as its measures of progress.
References
Cone, D. C., Ahern, J., Lee, C. H., Baker, D., Murphy, T., & Bogucki, S. (2013). A descriptive study of the "lift-assist" call. Prehospital Emergency Care, 17(1), 51-56. https://doi.org/10.3109/10903127.2012.717168
Kakara, R., Bergen, G., Burns, E., & Stevens, M. (2023). Nonfatal and fatal falls among adults aged ≥65 years: United States, 2020-2021. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 72(35), 938-943. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7235a1
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2020). Social isolation and loneliness in older adults: Opportunities for the health care system. The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25663
Sherrington, C., Fairhall, N. J., Wallbank, G. K., Tiedemann, A., Michaleff, Z. A., Howard, K., Clemson, L., Hopewell, S., & Lamb, S. E. (2019). Exercise for preventing falls in older people living in the community. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2019(1), Article CD012424. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012424.pub2
Reading the NR 538 Week 8 instructions
The closing assignment asks for a complete community or population needs assessment report. Prompts generally ask for the population, data sources and methods, findings from quantitative and qualitative data, priority needs with rationale, limitations and recommendations. Choose one priority and state it early. Present the evidence for it where a skeptic can check it: data with their sources and appraised limits, community voices with who was and was not heard, and the ranking with its rules. Explain why the priority beats each rival, not only why it matters. State what the assessment could not show. End with a specific recommendation and how progress will be measured. Cite sources in APA 7 throughout.
How the NR 538 Week 8 example is put together
The report opens with its single recommendation and a promise to show its reasoning. A section describes the population and four sources, each with its appraised strengths and weaknesses. A data section reports flat hospitalizations, a peer benchmark, lift-assist calls rising after a recording change, concentration among repeat callers and national context. A section summarizes what older adults and lift-assist callers said, including night-time bathroom falls. The ranking section reports criteria, weights, the tie and its rule. A section explains why follow-up ranks first and how the rival needs fit in. Limits are stated plainly, and a recommendation with three indicators closes the report.
NR 538 Week 8 rubric: what full points look like
Needs assessment report rubrics typically reward a clearly defined population, appropriate and appraised data sources, integration of quantitative and qualitative findings, a justified priority, acknowledgment of limitations and actionable recommendations. Graders favor reports that choose one priority and defend it against alternatives. Presenting evidence with its limits builds credibility. Integrating community voices with data, and naming whose voices are missing, shows equity awareness. A transparent ranking method demonstrates rigor. Recommendations tied to measurable indicators show readiness for planning. Professional report structure, concise writing and consistent APA 7 citations complete the evaluation. Most sections also expect the report to name who will receive it and what decision it should inform.
NR 538 Week 8 help from the desk
The most common weakness is a report that lists every need found without choosing among them. Choose one and defend it. Another is presenting data without their limits, which invites a skeptical reader to dismiss everything. State the limits yourself. Students also separate qualitative and quantitative findings so completely that they never connect; show where they agree. Avoid recommending an intervention before the need is established. Do not hide rival needs; explain their rank. Keep the population and methods sections short enough that readers reach the findings. Finally, link the recommendation to indicators, so the next stage of planning has a way to measure progress. Ask a colleague outside the assessment to read the report and find its weakest claim before partners do.
Get a NR 538 Week 8 example written to your instructions
Send the full assignment prompt, the rubric, the report template if your classroom posts one, and whatever you have already written across the term. A custom NR 538 example is built to that material and returned inside 24-48h, and the first one is free. Tell us which problem your ranking produced so the statement of need matches your own work.
More NR 538 papers and MSN samples
- NR 538 Week 1: Discussion Naming a Findable Group
- NR 538 Week 2: Data Source Appraisal
- NR 538 Week 3: Indicator Selection Memo
- NR 538 Week 4: Trend Analysis Write-Up
- NR 538 Week 5: Benchmark Comparison Brief
- NR 538 Week 6: Community Input Summary
- NR 538 Week 7: Priority Ranking Matrix
- NR 530 Week 8: Reflection on Four Terms
NR 538 Week 8 questions, answered
How long should the report be?
Your own section sets that and the range varies, so the prompt governs. The word count matters less than whether every page serves the ordering: a report of moderate length that ranks clearly outscores a longer one that describes four problems evenly. If you are trimming, cut description of the population and keep the criteria, since the criteria are what the argument rests on.
Can the report recommend a solution?
Usually only in outline, and many prompts stop the document at the need itself. Where a short direction is invited, keep it to what the ranking supports and mark it clearly as beyond the assessment. Full planning, budgets, timelines and evaluation design belong to the course that follows, and importing them early tends to crowd out the ranking that is actually being marked.
What if my earlier weeks were weak?
The report is where that gets repaired, and repairing it openly costs less than hiding it. A source appraised badly in week two can be re-appraised here in a paragraph, and a measure that turned out to be unavailable at the right geography can be replaced with a note explaining the swap. Markers read a corrected chain as competence; they read an unexplained change of figures as carelessness.
Where can I find a free NR 538 Week 8 sample paper?
The older adult falls needs assessment is presented above as the complete NR 538 Week 8 sample, readable in full. If your assessment concerns another population, send us your findings and a report that defends one priority can be prepared.
Should the NR 538 report choose one priority?
Yes. A report that ranks and defends one need is more useful than a list. The sample chooses follow-up after lift-assist falls and explains, rival by rival, why it ranks first.