| Course | PA 602 PA Prof Prac Seminar IV |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Error timeline |
| Length | About 690 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 602 Week 2
Error Sequence Timeline for N.B.'s Wrist: When the Radiology Over-Read Arrived, Where It Went, Who Was Holding It and the Ninety-Two Hours Between Arrival and First Opening
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PA 602: PA Prof Prac Seminar IV
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Error Sequence Timeline for N.B.'s Wrist: When the Radiology Over-Read Arrived, Where It Went, Who Was Holding It and the Ninety-Two Hours Between Arrival and First Opening
The Case in Two Lines
N.B., a 47-year-old chemistry teacher, fell from a bicycle onto an outstretched hand and was seen at Riverside Walk-In Clinic, a composite urgent care, on a Saturday. Wrist X-rays were read at the visit as showing no fracture. A radiologist's over-read on Monday raised a possible scaphoid fracture. N.B. learned of it five weeks later.
Two Clocks, Not One
Table 1
Timeline of the Over-Read
| Date and time | Item | Came from | Held by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 11:20 | N.B. seen; wrist X-rays taken | Clinic | Per diem PA, the ordering clinician |
| Sat 11:45 | Preliminary read: no fracture; brace as needed, ibuprofen, follow up if not better in 1 to 2 weeks | Per diem PA | Per diem PA |
| Mon 08:40 | Final read: possible lucency at the scaphoid waist; scaphoid views or MRI advised if clinically suspected | Radiology group | Inbox of the per diem PA, who was not scheduled until Thursday |
| Mon 08:40 | Copy of report | Radiology group | Clinic results pool, marked "final, no action flag" |
| Thu 16:12 | Report first opened | Inbox | Per diem PA |
| Thu 16:20 | Call to N.B.: no answer, voicemail asking for a call back | Per diem PA | Per diem PA |
| Thu 16:25 | Inbox item marked "patient called" and closed | Per diem PA | No one |
| 5 weeks later | N.B. returns with persistent pain; repeat X-ray shows a scaphoid waist fracture | N.B. | Supervising physician and me |
Note. Note. Times taken from the clinic's results log and phone record. The first clock is when each item arrived; the second is when someone opened it.
Entries Report, They Do Not Rank
Each row records what happened, not whether it was right. Whether the over-read should have gone to a pooled inbox, or whether the voicemail should have counted as contact, is for the analysis that follows the timeline.
Judgment is held back on purpose. A timeline that says "failed to check" at 08:40 Monday assumes the per diem PA was expected to read results on a day off, which is a question about the clinic's design, not a fact about the sequence.
Where the Item Came From
The over-read came from the external radiology group, which sends its final reads by electronic interface. It went to two places: the ordering clinician's inbox, and a results pool that the clinic's nurse checks for reports flagged as critical. This one was not flagged critical, so the pool did not surface it.
Keep Going Past the Event
The sequence does not stop at the missed call. The item was closed at 16:25 after a voicemail, which meant no one else would see it again. N.B. did not hear the voicemail as urgent, since it said only "please call the clinic about your recent visit," and did not call back. Nothing else in the system prompted a second attempt.
Comparison With Published Data
Failures like this are not unusual. In a study of abnormal imaging alerts sent through an electronic record in outpatient care, 18 percent were never opened by the clinician, alerts sent to trainees were more often unacknowledged, and timely follow-up was missing for 7.7 percent of all alerts (Singh et al., 2009).
One Interval, Named at the End
The interval that mattered was the ninety-two hours from Monday 08:40, when the over-read arrived, to Thursday 16:12, when it was first opened, followed by five weeks with the item marked closed. The first part was a routing problem; the second was a closure problem.
Naming one interval does not mean the others were harmless. It means that if the clinic could fix only one thing, closing the gap between arrival and attention would have prevented the rest, because a report seen on Monday would have reached N.B. before the voicemail problem arose.
References
Singh, H., Thomas, E. J., Mani, S., Sittig, D., Arora, H., Espadas, D., Khan, M. M., & Petersen, L. A. (2009). Timely follow-up of abnormal diagnostic imaging test results in an outpatient setting: Are electronic medical records achieving their potential? Archives of Internal Medicine, 169(17), 1578-1586. https://doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2009.263
Reading the PA 602 Week 2 instructions
The second week asks for a timeline of an error sequence, a run of entries with times and nothing decorative. Each entry should carry four things: the clock time, the item that arrived, where it came from and who was holding it at that moment. Two clocks matter: when information arrived and when a person actually saw it, since the gap between them is often where things go wrong. Entries should report rather than rank; judgments belong after the timeline. Record where each item came from, because the source often explains the routing. Keep going past the obvious event to the point where the error could no longer be caught. Finish by naming the one interval that mattered most. A published source on result follow-up may support the analysis.
How the PA 602 Week 2 example is put together
Two lines introduce N.B., a 47-year-old teacher who fell from a bicycle. The table then gives eight entries: the Saturday 11:20 visit and X-rays, the 11:45 preliminary read with a brace as needed, the Monday 08:40 final read raising a scaphoid waist lucency, a copy sent to the results pool without a flag, the report first opened Thursday at 16:12, a 16:20 voicemail, the 16:25 closure of the task and the return five weeks later with a fracture on repeat film. A short section explains why entries do not rank. A source section describes the radiology interface and the critical-only pool. The past-the-event section follows the closed task and N.B.'s reading of the vague voicemail. Singh et al. (2009) supplies figures on unacknowledged alerts and missed follow-up. The closing names the ninety-two hours and the five closed weeks.
PA 602 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
Points in this timeline go first to the two clocks. A timeline with only one time per event, so arrival and attention look identical, loses the most because it hides where the delay sat. Next, graders deduct for entries that judge, such as "the PA failed to check the inbox," inside the timeline itself. Recording where each item came from earns a defined share, as does naming who held it at each moment. Faculty reward timelines that continue past the obvious failure to the last point where the error could have been caught. Naming one interval at the end, with its cause, completes the core analysis. Accuracy of times, a stated source for each, and correct citation of any comparison study close out the grade.
PA 602 Week 2 help from the desk
Most returned timelines are narratives with a few times scattered through them, or lists that stop at the first missed step. Another problem is a timeline that blames as it goes, which makes it hard to see the system. If your case involves a different item, such as a critical lab value, a pathology report or a consult note, send what is known about when it arrived and who saw it; a timeline written for you would give each entry its clock time, item, source and holder, separate arrival from attention, keep judgment out of the rows and name the interval that mattered. Where a time cannot be established, the row would say so instead of guessing.
Get a PA-602 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the requirement, not the episode. Whatever your rotation site holds on a real event, and whoever's name sits on it, has no business in an email to us, and two or three lines on the shape of the situation is plenty. An example timeline built to your section's fields comes back inside 24-48h, free the first time.
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PA 602 Week 2 questions, answered
What do I do about times I cannot establish?
Write the entry and mark it as approximate, with the reason beside it. Sometime before the shift changed is usable; half past four invented to look precise is not, and rubrics here read invented precision as carelessness about the whole account. Mark the soft entries and a reader can still use the document. Leave them unmarked and every row inherits the doubt.
Should the timeline carry what was thought as well as what happened?
Only where it was recorded somewhere. A working diagnosis written into a note at ten past two is an event and belongs on a row. What somebody remembers thinking at the time goes in the closing passage, labeled as recollection. Mixing the two produces an account nobody can check, and checking is the entire use of this document.
How long does the finished timeline usually run?
Shorter than most drafts do. A visit, the lag and the week afterward is generally the whole span, and past that the entries start logging routine traffic that carries no information at all. If yours keeps growing, look for rows saying only that a shift changed or that a clinic closed, and fold each one into the entry that actually mattered.
Where can I find a free PA 602 Week 2 sample paper?
The complete PA 602 Week 2 error sequence timeline, following a radiology over-read that sat unseen for ninety-two hours and then was closed after one voicemail, is on this page.
What are the two clocks in the PA 602 Week 2 sample?
The time each item arrived and the time a person actually opened or held it, which shows the report waited ninety-two hours before anyone saw it.