| Course | NR 705A DNP Project & Practicum II |
|---|---|
| Week | 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion post with two replies |
| Length | About 510 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NR 705A Week 1
Week 1 Discussion: Initial Post
A Same-Day Introduction to the Behavioral Health Consultant After a Positive PHQ-9, Who Does It, at What Moment and What Happens Today Instead
Initial Post
The change, with a person in it: when an adult's PHQ-9 comes back at 10 or more during a primary care visit, the medical assistant messages the behavioral health consultant before the clinician enters the room, and the consultant joins the visit or the patient walks to the consultant's office before leaving the building. On the other side of it is the patient, who meets the consultant face to face that day instead of waiting for a phone call.
Bounded twice: adults at a single site of our health center, and only those whose PHQ-9 reaches 10 at a primary care visit. In the first half of 2026 that was 580 visits, about 22 a week. Everyone with depression is not a population anyone can count; these 580 are.
Today, at the same moment: the clinician sees the score, talks briefly with the patient, places a referral order and the patient leaves. Two to five days later the behavioral health assistant calls. In the first half of 2026, about a third of these patients had seen behavioral health within a month.
Why this version and not the neighboring one. The neighboring version would be a faster callback, within one business day, which costs less and touches fewer people. I chose the same-day introduction because most lost patients in our data were never reached by phone, and a patient who has met the consultant in person has a face and a name to answer to. The constraint that shaped it is the consultant's schedule: the consultant is booked most afternoons, so the design has to make room for same-day contacts by holding two open slots a day. Patients seen after 16:00 or on Saturdays still need a callback, so they will get a phone call on the following working day.
Integrated care only helps the people who actually get to the behavioral health clinician (Archer et al., 2012), and warm handoffs are a common way of trying to make that happen. Our own team has never tried one in a structured way, though the consultant sometimes does it informally when a clinician knocks.
What is still open: one study found that a warm handoff did not help English-speaking Latino patients attend a first visit and may have done worse than a standard referral (Horevitz et al., 2015). Many of our patients are Latino. I do not yet know whether that finding would hold here.
Reply to Monica
Monica, your change is "better discharge teaching." Who does it, and at what moment? If it is the bedside nurse during the last hour, that is a different change from the case manager the day before.
Reply to Arturo
Arturo, you bounded your population as "all diabetics." Could you bound it twice, by clinic and by an A1C threshold? Then you could count them, and the baseline would mean something.
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
Horevitz, E., Organista, K. C., & Arean, P. A. (2015). Depression treatment uptake in integrated primary care: How a "warm handoff" and other factors affect decision making by Latinos. Psychiatric Services, 66(8), 824-830. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201400085
NR 705A Week 1 instructions, in plain terms
Name a role, a moment and an action in the same sentence, then say who is on the other side of it, usually the patient. Bound the population twice, for example by unit and by one condition, so it can be counted. Describe present practice at the same moment in its own line, since that is what the change will be compared against. In one paragraph, explain why you chose this version and not the neighboring one, naming the constraint that shaped the choice. Admit what is still open, including any evidence that cuts against the change. In replies, ask classmates who does their change and when, and how their population could be bounded tightly enough to count.
Inside the NR 705A Week 1 example
The sample's change has the medical assistant message the consultant when the score appears, so the patient meets the consultant during or after the visit. The population is adults at one site with a PHQ-9 of at least 10, 580 visits in six months. Present practice is a referral and a call two to five days later, reaching about a third within a month. A faster callback was rejected because most lost patients never answered calls; the consultant's full afternoons led to two held slots a day and a next-day call after hours. A study finding warm handoffs did not help English-speaking Latino patients is named as unresolved. Replies ask about a teaching change's actor and a diabetes population's bounds. The post also notes the team has never run a structured warm handoff before.
Reading the NR 705A Week 1 grading rubric
Change posts lose most when the change is an intention, such as improving engagement, with no person or moment in it. Next is a population described too broadly to count, such as all patients with depression. Many posts skip present practice, leaving nothing to compare the change against. Writers often fail to explain why they chose this version over a nearby one, which hides the reasoning a reviewer most wants. Posts that present the change as certain, ignoring evidence against it, look less credible than those that admit doubt. Replies that praise a classmate's idea without asking who does it and when add little. Posts that do not explain why one version was chosen over a nearby one also leave reviewers guessing at the reasoning.
NR 705A Week 1 help from the desk
Turning a broad idea into a change with a person, a moment and an action takes a few rounds of narrowing. Starting from your first term's findings, we can name who does the change and when, bound your population twice and describe today's practice at the same moment. We can also help you explain the constraint behind your choice and name the evidence that cuts against it. A short conversation with the people who would carry the change usually sharpens the moment. The change is yours.
Get a NR 705A Week 1 example written to your instructions
Send the posting instructions and rubric exactly as your classroom shows them, and a custom NR 705A Week 1 discussion post written to that rubric comes back inside 24-48h, the first one free. If your section words the opening thread differently, say so in the request and the desk builds to what you were given.
More NR 705A papers and DNP samples
- NR 705A Week 2: Intervention Design Paper
- NR 705A Week 3: Change Package Outline
- NR 705A Week 4: Baseline Description Write-up
- NR 705A Week 5: Measure Definition Table
- NR 705A Week 6: Survey Instrument Draft
- NR 705A Week 7: Approval Determination Memo
- NR 705A Week 8: Design Defense Summary
- NR 702A Week 1: DNP Trouble Post
NR 705A Week 1 questions, answered
Is this the problem statement from last term, restated?
That document argued a problem was real and worth somebody's time. This post starts one step past it and names the change, so the first sentence carries a role and an action instead of a prevalence figure. Faculty read the two against each other, and a post that repeats term one usually comes back with a request for the missing half.
Does the change have to be final in Week 1?
No, and saying so in the post is usually rewarded. What has to be settled is the shape: one action, one group, one moment. The dose, the exact wording of a tool and the length of the window can all still move, and naming which of them is unsettled invites the kind of reply that is worth reading.
What counts as a good reply here?
Agreement adds nothing at this level. A reply that works takes one element of a classmate's design, usually the trigger or the population, and says what would happen to it on a different unit with different staffing. Ending on a question the writer can actually answer keeps the thread moving, which is what participation points are generally given for.
Where can I find a free NR 705A Week 1 sample paper?
The complete post proposing a same-day behavioral health introduction, with replies to Monica and Arturo, is on this page.
What evidence does the NR 705A Week 1 post admit cuts against the change?
A study of Latino patients that found a warm handoff did not help English-speaking patients attend a first visit and may have done worse than a standard referral.