| Course | PA 503 Essential Foundations in Clinical Medicine |
|---|---|
| Week | 7 |
| Paper type | Verbal case summary |
| Length | About 610 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PA 503 Week 7
Verbal Case Summary: One Minute on the Phone to a Pulmonologist About a 58-Year-Old Former Smoker With Hemoptysis and a Spiculated Nodule
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PA 503: Essential Foundations in Clinical Medicine
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Verbal Case Summary: One Minute on the Phone to a Pulmonologist About a 58-Year-Old Former Smoker With Hemoptysis and a Spiculated Nodule
Listener and Setting
Listener: the on-call pulmonologist at the regional hospital, reached by phone from the family clinic. Setting: a phone call to arrange an early outpatient evaluation after the patient's computed tomography showed a 2.1-centimeter spiculated nodule in the right upper lobe. Time: about one minute, roughly 140 words, spoken.
The Script
"I'm calling about a 58-year-old who used to smoke heavily, has been coughing up streaks of blood for three weeks and now has a new right upper lobe nodule, and I'd like the patient seen in your clinic this week.
Quit six years ago after about thirty-six pack-years. The cough and streaking started after a cold. No fever, no weight loss, breathing's fine, and no anticoagulants.
Exam was normal apart from rhonchi that cleared with coughing. Vitals and oxygen saturation were normal.
The chest X-ray two days ago was normal. Because of the risk, we got a CT, which shows a two-point-one centimeter spiculated nodule in the right upper lobe. No other nodules, no lymph nodes mentioned, no effusion.
Blood count and clotting tests are normal.
I'm concerned this is a lung cancer, and I'd like your help with the next step, likely biopsy or bronchoscopy, within the week."
Why It Is Built This Way
The identifying phrase comes first and includes the two facts that frame everything else, former heavy smoker and new nodule, along with the request, so the listener knows within 15 seconds what is being asked. The history is compressed to what changes the probability of cancer: pack-years, timing and the absence of other symptoms. Each absence is chosen because it bears on a decision, such as no blood thinners before a biopsy and no weight loss or nodes that might suggest advanced disease. The script follows the order of reasoning, risk, symptom, examination, imaging, rather than the order of the chart. It ends with a commitment: the concern stated plainly and a specific request with a time frame. The radiograph is mentioned because a normal radiograph followed by an abnormal scan is the reason the call is happening, consistent with the advice to image further despite a normal radiograph in patients with risk factors (Earwood & Thompson, 2015).
What Was Left Out
Several details from the chart were left out because they do not change what the pulmonologist will do: the patient's occupation, the blood pressure medicine, the brother's history and the full review of systems. They are available if asked. Abbreviations that work only in writing were avoided, and numbers were written as they would be spoken.
How I Would Practice It
I would read it aloud with a timer twice, aiming for under 70 seconds, and then say it once without the page, since a phone summary works best when it does not sound read. A useful check is whether the listener could repeat back the request after hearing it once. A structured summary that leads with the problem representation and ends with a request helps the listener reason with you rather than sort through the chart (Bowen, 2006).
If the Pulmonologist Asks Questions
The likely questions are whether the patient has had previous scans for comparison, whether there are other nodules and whether the patient can travel for a biopsy. I would have the answers ready before calling.
References
Bowen, J. L. (2006). Educational strategies to promote clinical diagnostic reasoning. New England Journal of Medicine, 355(21), 2217-2225. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra054782
Earwood, J. S., & Thompson, T. D. (2015). Hemoptysis: Evaluation and management. American Family Physician, 91(4), 243-249.
PA 503 Week 7 instructions, in plain terms
The seventh week asks for a verbal case summary of about a minute, roughly 140 words, written to be spoken. Name the listener and setting at the top. Open with an identifying phrase that frames the case and, if appropriate, your request. Compress the history to the features that change the listener's decision, and include pertinent negatives that weigh on it. Follow the order of reasoning rather than the order of the chart. Use short spoken sentences without abbreviations that work only in writing. End with a clear commitment: what you think and what you are asking for. Explain your choices briefly, and say how you would practice and time the summary.
How this PA 503 Week 7 example is built
The script is a call to an on-call pulmonologist after computed tomography shows a 2.1-centimeter spiculated right upper lobe nodule. It opens with the identifying phrase and a request for a clinic visit this week, then gives pack-years, onset after a cold, no fever, weight loss, breathlessness or anticoagulants, a normal examination and vitals, a normal radiograph followed by the scan, and normal blood counts and clotting. It ends by stating concern for cancer and asking for help with biopsy or bronchoscopy within the week. The notes explain each choice, list the chart details left out, describe timed practice and prepare answers about prior scans and travel.
Reading the PA 503 Week 7 grading rubric
Reading the chart aloud in chart order dominates the losses in this week, and a marker hears it within fifteen seconds. Running over the time limit comes next, almost always because the history was never compressed, and sections that time recordings apply that penalty strictly. Summaries without an identifying phrase, without the request, with written abbreviations or that end without a commitment also lose points. Strong summaries name the listener, open with a framing phrase and request, compress the history, keep the negatives that matter, follow the order of reasoning, use spoken language and end with a clear statement of concern and what is needed. Preparing for likely follow-up questions shows the speaker anticipated the listener.
PA 503 Week 7 help: mistakes that cost points
Speaking a case in a minute is a skill that improves quickly with practice and feedback. If you share the case and the listener you are calling, we can help you write the identifying phrase, decide which history and negatives to keep and end with a clear request. We can also help you time the script and prepare for the questions the listener is likely to ask. The case and the delivery belong to you. Where a recording is required rather than a script, we can help you mark pauses and emphasis so the spoken version stays within the time limit. We can also help you cut a draft that runs long without losing the request.
Get a PA-503 Week 7 example written to your instructions
Send the source case, the time cap and whether your section wants a script, a recording or both, and a custom example comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. Where a defense of the cuts is also required, that paragraph is written alongside the script rather than left for you to add afterward.
More PA 503 papers and MPAS samples
- PA 503 Week 1: First Question Post
- PA 503 Week 2: Illness Scripts
- PA 503 Week 3: Problem Representation
- PA 503 Week 4: Diagnostic Schema
- PA 503 Week 5: Test Characteristics Problem Set
- PA 503 Week 6: Assessment and Plan Draft
- PA 503 Week 8: Diagnostic Error Analysis
- PA 502 Week 7: Decision Aid Draft
- PA 501 Week 7: Professional Conduct Case
PA 503 Week 7 questions, answered
How many words is a minute?
About a hundred and forty at an unhurried clinical pace, and slower beats faster for this exercise. Writing to a hundred and sixty and then reading quickly is the usual way a cap gets broken. If your section times the recording, the example is drafted to the spoken length rather than to a word count on the page.
Should numbers be read out?
Only the ones that change something, and each with its meaning attached in the same breath rather than left as a bare value. A summary reciting a full panel loses the listener and the marks together. Where your section names results it wants included, send that list and the example places them where they carry weight.
Do we hand in the source case as well?
Many sections want it attached so a marker can see what was cut, and some ask for a short paragraph defending the cuts. That paragraph is often where the reasoning credit actually sits, more than in the script itself. Send the submission list with your request and the example includes every piece of it.
Where can I find a free PA 503 Week 7 sample paper?
This page holds a full PA 503 Week 7 verbal case summary script to a pulmonologist, with notes on each choice.
How does the PA 503 Week 7 sample end?
With a plain statement of concern for lung cancer and a request for the pulmonologist's help with biopsy or bronchoscopy within the week.