| Course | PA 541 PA Professional Practice Seminar II |
|---|---|
| Week | 4 |
| Paper type | Oral case presentation script |
| Length | About 630 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 541 Week 4
Oral Presentation Draft for G.O. to My Preceptor at 4:15 p.m.: A One-Liner That Carries the Stopped Pills, Five Findings, Three Pertinent Negatives and a Request Said in One Breath
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PA 541: PA Professional Practice Seminar II
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Oral Presentation Draft for G.O. to My Preceptor at 4:15 p.m.: A One-Liner That Carries the Stopped Pills, Five Findings, Three Pertinent Negatives and a Request Said in One Breath
Built for One Hearing
The script below is what I will say, standing, to my preceptor between patients. It should take about ninety seconds. It is written in short sentences, without abbreviations I would not say aloud, and with numbers rounded the way I would speak them. Clerkship directors in internal medicine rate a clear, concise presentation with an assessment and plan among the most important features of an oral case presentation (Green et al., 2009), and that is the standard I am drafting to.
The Script
"G.O. is a sixty-one-year-old landscaper with four days of nausea and two days of vomiting, eleven days after running out of a joint supplement taken every day for about eight months. The spouse sent a photo: it is Artri King, which the FDA says contains hidden dexamethasone.
"Since stopping, G.O. has had fatigue, aching joints and lightheadedness on standing, and has lost about three kilos.
"Blood pressure is one-oh-four over sixty-six sitting and eighty-six over fifty-eight standing, with the pulse going from ninety-eight to one-eighteen. Temperature is normal. The face is round and full, and there is easy bruising on the forearms.
"The labs: sodium one-twenty-eight, potassium normal at four point four, glucose sixty-one, and creatinine one point four, up from a baseline of point nine.
"Pertinent negatives: no fever, no abdominal guarding, no darkening of the skin.
"I'm worried about adrenal insufficiency from stopping a hidden steroid, with low sodium, low glucose and orthostatic hypotension. I'd like to draw a cortisol and an ACTH now, give hydrocortisone without waiting for the results, and send G.O. to the emergency department. Can I call the ED and set that up?"
The Opening Line Does the Most
If my preceptor hears only the first sentence, it carries the age, the problem, the duration and the stopped pills. Everything after it is support. I moved the photo of the bottle into the first breath because it is the fact that changes the plan.
Negatives That Earn Their Place
I kept three negatives. No fever and no guarding argue against an abdominal or infectious cause that would explain the low blood pressure differently. No darkening of the skin is included because skin pigmentation is the feature most people associate with adrenal failure, and its absence fits a cause in the pituitary signal rather than in the adrenal glands themselves.
The Cut List
Things I cut from the spoken version and kept in the written note: the coworker who was sick, the full medication list (amlodipine, which G.O. stopped taking two weeks ago because of dizziness), the knee examination, the white cell count of 9.8 with 6 percent eosinophils, the liver enzymes, and the review of systems. Each is true. None changes the request. The eosinophil count supports the impression and I will mention it if asked.
Rehearsal Check
Read aloud at speaking pace, the script runs one minute and twenty seconds. The longest sentence has twenty-seven words; I split one sentence that had a parenthetical about the bottle's label language, since parentheses do not survive being spoken.
I also rehearsed the answer to the question my preceptor is most likely to ask next, "How sick is G.O. right now?", so the reply can be given in one sentence: standing pressure in the eighties, glucose sixty-one, still vomiting.
References
Green, E. H., Durning, S. J., DeCherrie, L., Fagan, M. J., Sharpe, B., & Hershman, W. (2009). Expectations for oral case presentations for clinical clerks: Opinions of internal medicine clerkship directors. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 24(3), 370-373. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0900-x
PA 541 Week 4 instructions, in plain terms
The fourth week asks for a draft oral presentation, written to be said rather than read. The opening line must tell the listener who the patient is, what the problem is and how long it has lasted, since a listener who misses that line cannot use the rest. Keep the body thin: only the findings that carry your impression, plus pertinent negatives that are truly pertinent rather than a recited review of systems. Use short, active sentences, numbers rounded the way you would say them and no abbreviations you would not speak aloud. End with your assessment and a specific request. The instructions also ask for a cut list of what you deliberately left out, so the omissions read as decisions. Time the draft at speaking pace and note what you changed after rehearsing it.
How the PA 541 Week 4 example is put together
A short framing paragraph sets the draft at about ninety seconds, spoken standing between patients, and cites Green et al. (2009) on what clerkship directors value. The script itself is six short paragraphs: the one-liner with age, duration and the identified bottle; the symptoms since stopping; vital signs spoken in words, a round face and bruising; the four laboratory values; three negatives; and the impression with a request to draw cortisol and ACTH, give hydrocortisone and arrange transfer. A section explains moving the bottle photo into the first breath. Another justifies each negative, including the absent skin darkening. The cut list names the sick coworker, the stopped amlodipine, the knee examination, the eosinophils, the liver enzymes and the review of systems. A rehearsal check reports one minute twenty seconds and the split of one sentence that held a parenthesis.
Where the points sit in the PA 541 Week 4 rubric
Most of the deductions here fall on a draft written as a paper and then read aloud. Long clauses, parentheses and written abbreviations are audible, and they cost the most. Next come findings included only for completeness, since each extra negative pushes the impression later. The one-liner is graded closely: an opening missing duration or the decisive fact loses a substantial share. Faculty reward a body limited to what supports the assessment and negatives chosen for a reason. Ending with a specific request, not a summary, earns credit because it gives the listener a decision. The cut list is marked as evidence of judgment, and a rehearsal note shows the draft was tested at speaking pace. Any cited guidance on presentations is checked for APA form.
PA 541 Week 4 help: mistakes that cost points
Spoken drafts usually lose points by being too complete: every vital sign, every lab, every system. Another issue is a first line that names the patient and complaint but leaves out the one fact that changes the plan. A third is ending with "that's my patient" instead of an assessment and a request. If your section gives you a different case or a time limit, send it; a script prepared for you would put the decisive fact in the one-liner, keep only findings that carry the assessment, speak numbers as they would be said, end with what you want the preceptor to approve and list what was cut and why. If your program uses a set format, such as SNAPPS or a fixed order for presentations, it will be applied and timed.
Get a PA-541 Week 4 example written to your instructions
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PA 541 Week 4 questions, answered
Our classroom allows abbreviations in writing. Do they belong in a spoken draft?
Almost none of them. An abbreviation is a reading convenience, and a listener has to expand it in real time or lose the sentence, so the example writes out anything a person would say in full and keeps only the few forms actually pronounced aloud. Where a written script is collected as well, the expansions stay, since nothing is gained by compressing the page.
How much detail belongs in the background section?
Only what changes the thinking about this problem today. A full past history spoken aloud costs a listener more than it gives, so the example keeps the conditions, medications and events that bear on the current impression and drops the rest into the cut list. Where a rubric names required elements, those stay in regardless, but at the shortest length that still counts.
Should the draft include the whole differential?
Rarely. Most spoken formats want the leading impression with one or two live alternatives and the reason they are still standing. A full ranked list belongs in written work, and reciting it aloud is one of the reliable ways to run past a time limit. If your assignment explicitly asks for three, the example gives three and keeps each to a single sentence.
Where can I find a free PA 541 Week 4 sample paper?
A complete PA 541 Week 4 oral presentation script for a suspected adrenal crisis, with a cut list and a rehearsal check, is on this page.
How long is the script in the PA 541 Week 4 sample?
It runs one minute and twenty seconds at speaking pace, with no sentence longer than twenty-seven words and no parentheses left in.