| Course | NR 702A DNP Project & Practicum I |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Project charter draft |
| Length | About 1,100 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 702A Week 6
Project Charter Draft: First Behavioral Health Visit Following a Positive Depression Screen, With Scope, Asks, Milestones Across Four Terms and Approvals
Student Name
College of Nursing, Chamberlain University
NR 702A: DNP Project & Practicum I
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Project Charter Draft: First Behavioral Health Visit Following a Positive Depression Screen, With Scope, Asks, Milestones Across Four Terms and Approvals
Title Block
Working name: First Contact After a Positive PHQ-9.
Service: adult primary care, one site, federally qualified health center.
Sponsor: director of behavioral health.
Executive signatory: chief medical officer.
Project lead: DNP student, family nurse practitioner at the site.
Version: 1.0, 9 October 2026.
Problem
In April to June 2026, about a third of adult patients at the site with a PHQ-9 of at least 10 were seen by behavioral health within a month, against the health center's target of 50%.
Aim
As fixed in the aim statement draft and unchanged here: completed behavioral health contact within 30 days, for adults at this site with a PHQ-9 total of at least 10, moving from about a third of patients to half of them by the end of June 2027.
Scope
The scope is drawn tightly so that one person can finish the project in four terms. | In scope | Out of scope |
| Adults 18 and older at the one site | Other sites, pediatric and dental services |
|---|---|
| Primary care visits where the PHQ-9 total is 10 or higher | Behavioral health visits, PHQ-9 scores under 10 |
| The step between the primary care visit and the first behavioral health visit | Behavioral health treatment after the first contact |
| Workflow changes approved at the site operations meeting | Hiring, staffing changes or new positions |
| Aggregate data from the dashboard and referral log | Identifiable patient data outside the health center |
| Patients' preferred language and channel of contact | Changes to the electronic record's design |
What the Organization Is Asked to Provide
People: the quality analyst, about two hours a month to produce the matched figure; the behavioral health team, one 20-minute agenda slot a month; the site medical director, agreement to test changes at the site.
Access: the matched aggregate table each month from January 2027; the referral log's status field in aggregate.
Time: no paid project time is requested; the student's project work is outside employed hours.
Milestones Across Four Terms
| Term | Months | Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Practicum I | September to October 2026 | Gap, setting, agreement, aim, charter and objectives completed; readiness memo |
| Practicum II | January to February 2027 | Evidence review and root cause analysis; change selected and approved at the site operations meeting |
| Practicum III | March to April 2027 | Change tested in cycles; monthly measure reported |
| Practicum IV | June to July 2027 | April to June 2027 quarter evaluated; findings presented to quality committee; handover |
Measures
Outcome measure: completed behavioral health contact within 30 days, as defined in the aim, reported monthly from January 2027.
Process measures, to be chosen with the change in the second term: likely the time from referral to first call attempt and the share of patients reached on the first attempt.
Balancing measure: primary care visit length for patients with a positive screen, since any change that adds work to the visit could lengthen it and affect the schedule.
Stakeholders and Their Interests
The behavioral health team wants fewer lost referrals but has no spare afternoon capacity. Primary care clinicians want a simpler handoff that does not lengthen visits. Medical assistants want any change to fit the rooming workflow. The quality committee wants the measure to rise without affecting other reported measures. Patients want to be reached when they can answer, in their language. The charter's scope and asks were written with each interest in mind, and the second term's choice of change will be tested against the same list before it goes to the operations meeting.
Resources the Project Does Not Need
No new staff, no new software, no paid time and no changes to the electronic record. The project's change, once chosen, must work within the people and tools the site already has, because the charter excludes hiring and record design. That constraint is deliberate: a change that needed new resources would be unlikely to survive after the project ends, since the health center has not budgeted for it. Naming what the project does not need is as important to the sponsor as naming what it asks for.
Communication Plan
Monthly: a one-paragraph update and the month's figure to the sponsor, executive signatory and site medical director. Each term: a written summary to the chief medical officer and director of behavioral health, as the agreement requires. Before any change: a presentation at the site operations meeting and to the quality committee. Monthly reporting of a measured outcome supports the measurement-based approach that integrated behavioral health relies on (Fortney et al., 2017).
Risks
The behavioral health consultant's position falls vacant: the project would pause and the aim would be reviewed. The dashboard method changes: the measure would be matched to the new method. The site cannot agree on a change: the project would test the change most acceptable to the operations meeting and report why.
Approvals
Sponsor: director of behavioral health, approved 12 October 2026.
Executive: chief medical officer, approved 14 October 2026.
Program: course faculty, pending review with the readiness memo.
What the Charter Commits the Student To
A monthly update to the sponsor, executive and site medical director. Presentation at the operations meeting and the quality committee before any change. A written summary at the end of each term. No change to any workflow without approval. These commitments mirror the site agreement and are repeated here so that the charter can stand alone.
How Success and Failure Will Be Reported
If the aim is met, the quality committee will receive the figures, the change and a recommendation on whether to continue. If it is not met, the committee will receive the same, with an account of why. A charter that only planned for success would leave the site unprepared to judge a partial result.
Amendments
None yet. Any change to the aim, scope or milestones will be recorded here with its date, reason and approver.
Why a Charter
A charter makes scope and commitments visible to people who will be asked for time. The Model for Improvement starts with an aim and a measure (Langley et al., 2009), and the charter fixes both before any change is tested. Integrated behavioral health depends on several teams working together (Archer et al., 2012), and the charter names each team's part.
References
Archer, J., Bower, P., Gilbody, S., Lovell, K., Richards, D., Gask, L., Dickens, C., & Coventry, P. (2012). Collaborative care for depression and anxiety problems. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012(10), CD006525. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD006525.pub2
Fortney, J. C., Unützer, J., Wrenn, G., Pyne, J. M., Smith, G. R., Schoenbaum, M., & Harbin, H. T. (2017). A tipping point for measurement-based care. Psychiatric Services, 68(2), 179-188. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201500439
Langley, G. J., Moen, R. D., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
NR 702A Week 6 instructions, in plain terms
Lay the charter out like a form even if no template was supplied. Put a title block at the top with the project's working name, the service, the sponsor and the date or version. Give the problem in one line and carry the aim forward unchanged from the earlier week. List what the project covers and, in a second column, what it does not. State what the organization is being asked to provide, in people, access and time, and what the project does not need. Run milestones across the four terms. Add measures, stakeholder interests, a communication plan and risks. Record approvals with dates and leave a section for amendments.
Inside the NR 702A Week 6 example
The sample's title block names First Contact After a Positive PHQ-9, the adult primary care service, the director of behavioral health as sponsor and the chief medical officer as signatory, version 1.0 of 9 October 2026. The problem and aim are carried forward. Scope includes adults at one site and the step to first behavioral health visit, excluding other sites, treatment after first contact, staffing and record design. Asks are analyst hours, monthly team agenda time and site agreement to test. Milestones run from September 2026 to July 2027. Measures include visit length as a balancing measure, and risks, approvals, reporting of partial results and an empty amendments section follow. A section lists what the project does not need, including new staff, software and paid time.
NR 702A Week 6 rubric: what full points look like
Charters lose most when they are written as essays rather than forms, so a reader cannot find scope or asks quickly. Next is an aim paraphrased rather than carried forward, which makes it look as if the project has drifted. Many charters list what is in scope but not what is out, which invites scope creep. Asks are often missing or stated as general support, so the people who must give time do not know what is wanted. Milestones that cover only the current term ignore the project's length. Charters without a balancing measure or an amendments section look unprepared for problems, and graders notice the absence. Charters that never say how a partial result will be reported also overpromise.
NR 702A Week 6 help: mistakes that cost points
A charter is a short document that takes careful thought, because every line is a commitment someone may hold you to. Working through it together, we can build the title block, carry the aim forward, draw scope in two columns and state exactly what the organization is asked to provide. We can also help you set milestones across four terms and add measures, risks and an amendments section. Sharing the draft with your sponsor before submitting usually tightens the scope. The charter is yours. Planning how partial results will be reported is worth doing too.
Get a NR 702A Week 6 example written to your instructions
Give us the charter template your program circulated, or the assignment page if your section does not supply one, together with your aim as it currently stands. The sample comes back filled in at the level of detail a sponsor would expect, exclusions included. Turnaround is 24 to 48 hours and the first one costs nothing.
More NR 702A papers and DNP samples
- NR 702A Week 1: DNP Trouble Post
- NR 702A Week 2: Practice Gap Write-Up
- NR 702A Week 3: Setting Description
- NR 702A Week 4: Site Agreement Summary
- NR 702A Week 5: Aim Statement Draft
- NR 702A Week 7: Practicum Objective Set
- NR 702A Week 8: Proposal Readiness Memo
NR 702A Week 6 questions, answered
Is the charter the same as the proposal?
No, and confusing them costs time later. A proposal argues that a project should happen and is written for an academic reader. A charter records what has been agreed and is written for the organization, which is why it is short, dated and signed. Most programs want both eventually, and the charter is the one that gets pinned to a wall and referred to.
My sponsor has not agreed to anything yet. Can I still draft it?
Yes, and the draft is usually what makes the conversation possible. A charter written before the meeting gives the sponsor something concrete to accept, amend or refuse, which is easier than being asked to support a project in the abstract. Mark the version as a draft, leave the approval block unsigned, and say in the assignment that agreement is outstanding.
How long should a charter be?
Shorter than most first drafts. One page is the working target in many sections and two is common once milestones are listed, but length is not the mark: a reader should be able to find the aim, the exclusions and the request inside ten seconds. Anything that cannot be found that fast belongs in the proposal instead.
Where can I find a free NR 702A Week 6 sample paper?
Here you will find the complete DNP project charter for behavioral health contact after a positive depression screen.
What balancing measure does the NR 702A Week 6 charter include?
Primary care visit length for patients with a positive screen, since a change that adds work to the visit could lengthen it and affect the schedule.