| Course | NR 574 Acute Care Practicum I |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Learning objective set |
| Length | About 800 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | MSN, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP (AGACNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 574 Week 2
Learning Objective Set for a Medical Intermediate Care Placement: Five Aims, Each With the Evidence That Would Show It Happened and the Competency Item It Serves
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 574: Acute Care Practicum I
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Learning Objective Set for a Medical Intermediate Care Placement: Five Aims, Each With the Evidence That Would Show It Happened and the Competency Item It Serves
What This Placement Is and What It Can Supply
The unit for this placement has 24 intermediate care beds for medical patients, in a community hospital, and my preceptor, an acute care nurse practitioner, is with me three days a week. The unit admits patients who need more monitoring than a general ward can give but not intensive care: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure exacerbations, many on bilevel noninvasive ventilation; patients on insulin, heparin or diltiazem infusions; patients after endoscopy for bleeding; and patients stepping down from the intensive care unit. The unit does not place central lines or chest tubes; interventional radiology and the surgical team do those. A vascular access team places ultrasound-guided peripheral lines. I wrote these aims after a 30-minute meeting with my preceptor on Friday, and each one was checked against what the unit actually does.
The Aims
1. Present at least four patients on morning multidisciplinary rounds, giving my own plan before the preceptor speaks, by the end of week 6.
Evidence: the preceptor's written feedback on a short presentation form for at least six presentations, with the item "plan offered independently" marked for at least four.
Competency item served: communication and collaboration with the interprofessional team.
2. Make the initiation or weaning decisions for bilevel noninvasive ventilation for three patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure, with the decision and its reason documented in a progress note cosigned by the preceptor.
Evidence: three cosigned notes, each recording the gas, the settings chosen or changed and the reason.
Competency item served: management of acute and complex illness.
3. Write admission history and physical examinations for eight patients admitted to the unit, each with a problem-based assessment and plan reviewed by the preceptor.
Evidence: eight notes with the preceptor's review recorded, and written comments on at least three.
Competency item served: diagnosis and clinical reasoning.
4. Place two ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous lines with the preceptor or a vascular access nurse in the room, after observing one.
Evidence: a procedure entry for each, with the observer named by role.
Competency item served: procedural skills.
5. Lead one family meeting about goals of care for a patient on the unit, with the preceptor present, after observing one led by the preceptor.
Evidence: a note of the meeting, and the preceptor's written comments on how I led it.
Competency item served: patient- and family-centered care.
Why These Five and Not Others
The aims cover five different parts of the work rather than five versions of one. Two are about reasoning (aims 2 and 3), one about speaking in a team (aim 1), one about a procedure (aim 4) and one about a conversation (aim 5). I left out an aim about central lines because the unit does not place them, and an aim about intensive care drips because those patients leave the unit before the infusions are titrated much. Ten Cate (2013) describes building a curriculum from activities a learner can be trusted to perform with decreasing supervision, and the aims are written in that spirit: each is an activity, and each names the level of supervision.
What I Expect to Be Hardest to Meet
Aim 2 depends on the timing of admissions. Many patients start noninvasive ventilation in the emergency department before they reach the unit, so my chance to make the first decision may be limited to weaning. Aim 4 depends on the vascular access team being willing to supervise a student. I have flagged both with my preceptor, and we agreed to review them at the midpoint rather than rewrite them now. Writing them down now, with their risks, means that if either fails the reason will already be on record.
How the Set Will Be Used
The set goes to my preceptor and to course faculty this week. At the midpoint I will report each aim in the wording above, with a verdict and the evidence, and at the end of the term again. If an aim proves impossible, the replacement will be agreed with my preceptor and recorded, not quietly swapped. Feedback against a stated objective is more useful than feedback in general, because both people know what is being looked at (Ende, 1983). New nurse practitioners also report a smoother transition when expectations are set formally at the start (Barnes, 2015), and this set is part of that.
References
Barnes, H. (2015). Exploring the factors that influence nurse practitioner role transition. Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 11(2), 178-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2014.11.004
Ende, J. (1983). Feedback in clinical medical education. JAMA, 250(6), 777-781. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1983.03340060055026
ten Cate, O. (2013). Nuts and bolts of entrustable professional activities. Journal of Graduate Medical Education, 5(1), 157-158. https://doi.org/10.4300/JGME-D-12-00380.1
NR 574 Week 2 instructions, in plain terms
The Week 2 assignment asks for a short set of learning objectives for your placement, usually a page or two. A framing paragraph comes first, describing what the placement is and what it can plausibly supply, which stops an aim being written for work the unit does not do. Each aim then runs to a sentence or two and carries a second line naming what would show it happened: a count, a document, written feedback or a procedure observed and then performed with someone present. Many sections attach a competency list, and each aim should tie to one item on it. Most prompts reward aims that cover different parts of the work and that were discussed with the preceptor.
How this NR 574 Week 2 example is built
The sample opens by describing the 24-bed unit, the patients it admits and the procedures it leaves to other teams, and says the aims were checked with the preceptor in a 30-minute meeting. Five numbered aims follow, each with a target, an evidence line and a competency item: presenting with a plan first, three noninvasive ventilation decisions, eight admission notes, two ultrasound-guided peripheral lines and one family meeting. A section explains why these five cover different domains and why central lines were left out, citing an entrustment framework. Another names the two aims at risk and why. The closing section explains how the set will be used at the midpoint and the end.
NR 574 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
The set loses most through an aim nobody could fail, such as gaining exposure, which has no end state for the midpoint to check. Each aim here names a count or a document. A set written without asking anyone loses points of a different kind, because aims about procedures the unit never performs show the placement was not discussed; the framing paragraph prevents that. Five aims that are one aim in five costumes cost the coverage criterion, which this set meets with five different domains. Tying each aim to a competency item fills the alignment row. Saying in advance how replacements will be handled earns credit for honesty.
Common NR 574 Week 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The most expensive mistake in NR 574 Week 2 is an aim with no measurable end, like improve assessment skills. Another is writing aims before learning what the unit does, so half of them cannot happen. Many sets repeat one theme, often physical assessment, five times. Evidence lines are often missing, which leaves the midpoint with nothing to check. Some aims describe what the service does rather than what the student will do. If your placement is a different unit, send a description of what it admits and does not do, and a set of aims can be drafted for it with an evidence line under each. Two or three well-chosen aims beat six vague ones.
Get a NR 574 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Your classroom's objectives template and any competency list it attaches are the two things worth sending, plus a line about the setting. A custom NR 574 Week 2 objective set comes back inside 24-48h, the first one free, with the framing, the aims and the verification lines written out, and the counts left open for you to close.
More NR 574 papers and AGACNP samples
- NR 574 Week 1: First Practicum Week Discussion Post
- NR 574 Week 3: Orientation Write-up
- NR 574 Week 4: Weekly Practicum Journal
- NR 574 Week 5: Midpoint Self-appraisal
- NR 574 Week 6: Exposure Gap Memo
- NR 574 Week 7: Rounds Presentation Outline
- NR 574 Week 8: End of Rotation Summary
- NR 573 Week 2: Central Line Procedure Note
- NR 567 Week 2: CRRT Vancomycin Dosing Brief
- NR 572 Week 2: Rapid Assessment Write-Up
- NR 569 Week 2: Undifferentiated Presentation Write-Up
NR 574 Week 2 questions, answered
How tight should an aim be?
An aim tied to one named patient or one calendar date is too tight, because a single cancellation destroys it. An aim tied to a type of work and a modest count survives an ordinary term. The usable middle is a category of encounter, a number the service can reach in eight weeks, and a document that would show it.
What happens if an aim turns out to be impossible?
Say so in week five, in the appraisal, with the reason and the replacement. Faculty treat an aim withdrawn openly as ordinary and an aim that disappears between documents as evasion. The week two set is fixed once submitted, so the account of the change lives in the later documents rather than in a silent rewrite of this one.
Does the example come with numbers in it?
The wording arrives complete and the quantities arrive as brackets. How many admissions a step-down unit takes in a week, how many procedures a service runs, how many days the supervising clinician is on: those come off the schedule the writer is actually given, and an example that guessed at them would produce aims nobody could meet.
Where can I find a free NR 574 Week 2 sample paper?
This page shows the full objective set for the intermediate care placement, with five aims, their evidence lines and competency items.
Why does the NR 574 Week 2 set leave out central lines?
The unit does not place them; interventional radiology and surgery do, so an aim about central lines would be written for work this placement cannot supply.