| Course | NR 601 Primary Care of the Maturing and Aged Family Practicum |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Geriatric assessment write-up |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 601 Week 2
Geriatric Assessment Write-Up: R.D., 81, Living Alone With Two Falls in Six Months, Every Screen Turned Into a Consequence for Daily Life
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 601: Primary Care of the Maturing and Aged Family Practicum
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Geriatric Assessment Write-Up: R.D., 81, Living Alone With Two Falls in Six Months, Every Screen Turned Into a Consequence for Daily Life
The Patient and the Visit
R.D. is an 81-year-old retired school librarian, living alone in a house with the bedroom and only bathroom upstairs, and was seen for a comprehensive assessment in the practicum clinic, accompanied by an adult daughter who lives 15 minutes away. The reason for the visit, in R.D.'s words: "I've fallen twice and my daughter is worried."
History and the Whole Medicine List
Conditions: hypertension for 20 years; type 2 diabetes for 12 years; chronic kidney disease stage 3a; osteoarthritis of both knees; urge urinary incontinence since 2025; trouble sleeping.
Prescribed medicines:
- Lisinopril 20 mg each morning, for blood pressure and kidney protection
- Hydrochlorothiazide 25 mg each morning, for blood pressure
- Metformin 1,000 mg with breakfast and with supper, for diabetes
- Atorvastatin 40 mg at night, for cholesterol
- Omeprazole 20 mg daily, started during a 2021 hospital stay
- Oxybutynin extended release 10 mg daily, for bladder urgency
Taken without a prescription, found only when R.D. brought every bottle from home:
- Diphenhydramine 25 mg, in a nighttime pain reliever, most nights for sleep
- Aspirin 81 mg daily, started on a friend's advice
- Acetaminophen 500 mg, one or two tablets for knee pain
- Calcium with vitamin D, one tablet daily
Two of those four products have effects that matter here. Diphenhydramine appears on the Beers list as a drug older adults should generally not take, given how strongly it sedates and blocks acetylcholine (2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel, 2023).
Function Before Physiology
Basic activities: bathes, dresses, feeds and toilets without help, but grips the door frame to rise from the toilet, and twice this past month did not reach the toilet in time.
Instrumental activities: manages money and the telephone. Stopped driving last year after a near miss. Shopping is now done by the daughter on Saturdays. Fills a weekly pill organizer each Sunday; last week's organizer, which R.D. brought, had Tuesday evening's metformin missing and Thursday's morning slot holding two lisinopril tablets.
What this means: R.D. is independent at home but depends on the daughter for food and transport, and the medicine system is already failing in small ways.
Gait, Balance and Falls
Falls: two in six months, both during the night while heading for the toilet, no injury, no loss of consciousness. R.D. could not get up after the second fall for about 20 minutes.
Gait speed: 0.7 meters per second over 4 meters. At that speed, crossing a two-lane road with a typical pedestrian signal is not possible within the walk time; R.D. confirmed that the crossing near the pharmacy "always turns red on me." Gait speed below 0.8 meters per second is associated with shorter survival in older adults (Studenski et al., 2011).
Timed Up and Go: 15 seconds, using the chair arms to stand.
Orthostatic blood pressure: seated 138/76, standing at 3 minutes 112/68, a fall of 26 systolic, with lightheadedness.
Feet: reduced sensation to monofilament at both great toes.
Vision: wears glasses last updated four years ago.
Screens That End in a Sentence
Mini-Cog: 3 of 5 (recalled one word, clock normal). In daily life, this fits the pill organizer errors and means R.D. cannot be relied on to manage changes in medicines without a written plan and checking.
Patient Health Questionnaire-2: 1. Low mood is not the main problem; R.D. describes feeling "careful, not sad."
Weight: down 3 kilograms in six months. The daughter shops once a week and R.D. eats less toward the end of the week when fresh food runs out.
Hearing: whispered voice test passed.
Continence: urgency with leakage most nights, waking two or three times to urinate.
Problem List in Order of Threat
1. Falls at night, with gait speed 0.7 meters per second, orthostatic hypotension, neuropathy and nighttime urgency all contributing. A hip fracture would end independent living.
2. Medicines that raise fall and confusion risk: diphenhydramine nightly, oxybutynin and hydrochlorothiazide, with an anticholinergic load from the first two.
3. Medicine management failing, with mild cognitive impairment on screening.
4. Weight loss linked to shopping once a week.
5. Hypertension, controlled seated, low standing.
6. Diabetes, kidney disease and knee osteoarthritis, stable.
Tinetti and Kumar (2010) describe falls in older adults as the result of several risk factors acting together, and the problem list is ordered to reflect that: the falls lead because they are the threat most likely to end R.D.'s independence this year.
What R.D. and the Daughter Said
R.D. described the falls as "my own fault for rushing" and was reluctant to talk about the sleep aid at first, saying it was "just something from the drugstore." The daughter was most worried about R.D. lying on the floor after the second fall and asked about a medical alert device. R.D. did not want one. Both agreed that staying in the house was the priority.
How the Findings Fit Together
The findings point in one direction. R.D. is at high risk of a serious fall at night: the urge to urinate wakes R.D. and creates a rush; a sedating sleep aid and an anticholinergic bladder medicine slow thinking and blur vision; the pressure drops on standing; the feet feel less of the floor; the glasses are old. Each factor alone is modest. Together, at 02:00 on the stairs-level landing, they add up. The weight loss and medicine errors are slower threats, but they will make the next fall more dangerous and the recovery slower.
What the Assessment Did Not Cover
There was not time for a full nutrition assessment, a hearing test beyond the whispered voice or a review of advance care wishes. These are booked for later visits, so that this first visit could focus on what threatens R.D. most. R.D.'s wishes about future care matter given the falls, and will be raised once the immediate plan is in place.
Next Steps Agreed
A return visit in a fortnight for the blood pressure and the drop on standing; a referral to home health physical therapy; a request that the daughter fill the pill organizer on Sundays starting this week. R.D. agreed to bring all bottles again next time.
References
2023 American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. (2023). American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 71(7), 2052-2081. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18372
Studenski, S., Perera, S., Patel, K., Rosano, C., Faulkner, K., Inzitari, M., Brach, J., Chandler, J., Cawthon, P., Connor, E. B., Nevitt, M., Visser, M., Kritchevsky, S., Badinelli, S., Harris, T., Newman, A. B., Cauley, J., Ferrucci, L., & Guralnik, J. (2011). Gait speed and survival in older adults. JAMA, 305(1), 50-58. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.1923
Tinetti, M. E., & Kumar, C. (2010). The patient who falls: "It's always a trade-off." JAMA, 303(3), 258-266. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2009.2024
NR 601 Week 2 instructions, in plain terms
The Week 2 write-up should read like it was written by someone who watched the patient move. Give the history and the whole medicine list, including over-the-counter products and supplements. Put function before physiology. Assess gait, balance and falls with measured results. Then convert every screening result into a consequence before moving on: a gait speed into whether the patient can cross the road, a cognitive screen into whether the pill organizer is filled correctly, a weight loss into who does the shopping. End with a problem list in order of threat. Most rubrics mark down screens scored and left there, function written as reassurance and a medicine list that stops at prescriptions.
How the NR 601 Week 2 example is put together
The sample describes R.D., a retired librarian, and the daughter who came along. Six prescriptions are listed with reasons, then four over-the-counter products found only when every bottle was brought, including a nighttime pain reliever with diphenhydramine. Function covers grip on the door frame, missed toilet trips, no driving and pill organizer errors. Gait speed of 0.7 meters per second is linked to a crossing signal, a Timed Up and Go of 15 seconds and a 26-point drop on standing. Each screen ends in a consequence. R.D.'s and the daughter's words, how the findings combine at night and a problem list ordered by threat follow.
NR 601 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
Most of the loss sits in screens administered, scored and left there; every screen here ends in a sentence about R.D.'s life. Function written as independent with all activities costs the next share, while this write-up describes the door frame and the missed toilet trips. A medicine list stopping at prescriptions loses a row, and four over-the-counter products are found by asking for every bottle. A problem list in organ order loses marks, and this one is ordered by what threatens R.D. most this year. Showing how the findings combine at one hour of the night earns the synthesis criterion. Quoting R.D. and the daughter adds what the numbers cannot. Noting what the assessment did not cover shows its limits.
NR 601 Week 2 help: mistakes that cost points
Weak NR 601 Week 2 write-ups report screening scores without saying what they mean for the patient. Others describe the patient as independent with no evidence. Many list prescriptions and miss the sleep aid or aspirin bought at the drugstore. Problem lists are often in body-system order. Few describe watching the patient walk. Ask the patient to bring every bottle, time the walk, measure blood pressure standing and write one consequence after each result. Then order the problems by what could end the patient's independence soonest. For a different patient, share the findings and we can prepare an assessment sample in this form.
Get a NR 601 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the Week 2 template and rubric your classroom uses, with the patient profile you have been given, and a custom write-up is built to that template and returned inside 24 to 48 hours. The first one is free. It comes back complete so you can see where each screening result was carried into the problem list.
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NR 601 Week 2 questions, answered
Which functional instruments should appear?
Sections differ, and the ones commonly used at this level cover basic self care, instrumental tasks, gait and balance, cognition, mood and nutrition. What matters more than the choice is that the instrument is named, the result is reported and the result is then interpreted for this patient. An unnamed screen cannot be repeated at the next visit and cannot be compared.
How long should the write-up run?
Longer than a clinic note and shorter than a paper, with most sections publishing a page range in the classroom. Length is usually decided by the number of headings the template carries rather than by how much is said under each. A short write-up that interprets every finding scores better than a long one that lists them.
What if the patient reports no problems at all?
That is a finding to test rather than accept. Older adults routinely describe as normal aging what is treatable, and a hearing loss or an unsteady turn will often surface only when the task is asked about directly. Ask what has become harder in the past year rather than whether anything is wrong, and record the answer in the patient's own words.
Where can I find a free NR 601 Week 2 sample paper?
The full geriatric assessment write-up for R.D., 81, with every screen turned into a daily-life consequence, is published on this page.
What did the gait speed mean for R.D. in the NR 601 Week 2 write-up?
At 0.7 meters per second, R.D. cannot cross the road near the pharmacy before the signal changes.