| Course | PA 618 Clinical Clerkship - Pediatrics |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Pediatric encounter write-up |
| Length | About 580 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 618 Week 2
Three-Party Encounter Write-Up for M.J., 8, With Left Upper Eyelid Swelling: Who Was in the Room and as What, Each Sentence With Its Owner, the Grandparent's Two-Day Timeline and a Plan With People in It
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PA 618: Clinical Clerkship - Pediatrics
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Three-Party Encounter Write-Up for M.J., 8, With Left Upper Eyelid Swelling: Who Was in the Room and as What, Each Sentence With Its Owner, the Grandparent's Two-Day Timeline and a Plan With People in It
Who Was in the Room
M.J., 8, the patient. Parent, legal guardian, who brought M.J. Grandparent, who provides after-school care on weekdays. PA student, then the supervising physician. The parent consented to the visit and to the grandparent taking part.
A Sentence With an Owner
Grandparent: a small scabbed sore above the left eyebrow for about four days, which M.J. scratched; eyelid swelling began two days ago, worse this morning. Parent: noticed the swelling yesterday evening after a night shift; gave ibuprofen at 07:00 for "a temperature," not measured. M.J.: the eye is "puffy and hot" but does not hurt when looking side to side; vision "is fine." No one reported double vision, eye pain on movement or a runny nose.
Arriving From Outside the Room
The school nurse sent a note on Tuesday: two children in M.J.'s class have impetigo. The note arrived with the grandparent.
The note matters because it suggests the source: impetigo spreads easily among children in close contact, and a scratched sore near the eyebrow is a likely entry point for the infection now in the eyelid. The school nurse's note is scanned into the chart with its date, so a later reader can see where the information came from.
The Only Part That Is Yours
Examination: temperature 37.9 °C; left upper eyelid swollen and red, warm, tender; eye opens with effort. Conjunctiva not injected. Pupils equal and reactive. Eye movements full in all directions without pain. Visual acuity 20/25 in each eye. No proptosis. Above the left eyebrow, a 1-centimeter honey-crusted lesion; two smaller crusted lesions on the left cheek.
Assessment: left preseptal (periorbital) cellulitis, likely spread from impetigo above the brow. No signs of orbital involvement: full, painless eye movements, normal acuity and no proptosis, which separate the earlier stage of eyelid infection from orbital cellulitis in the classic staging (Chandler et al., 1970).
A Plan With People in It
1. Admitted for intravenous antibiotics because swelling is worsening on day 2 and the eye barely opens; the supervising physician agreed. Clindamycin chosen to cover both staphylococcus, including resistant strains, and streptococcus, the usual causes of impetigo (Stevens et al., 2014).
2. Nurse: eye checks every 4 hours, including movement and acuity; call the team for pain on eye movement, double vision or bulging.
3. Parent: will stay overnight; grandparent will collect school work.
4. PA student: draw the outline of redness on the eyelid with a skin marker and record the time.
5. CT of the orbits only if any orbital sign appears.
Where the Accounts Differ
The timeline is recorded as the grandparent's, because the grandparent saw M.J. every day. The parent's account is recorded too, labeled, rather than discarded.
If the parent's one-day timeline had been used alone, the infection would have looked newer and faster, which could have pushed the team toward imaging that was not needed. Keeping both accounts lets the reader see why the team judged the course as two days.
References
Chandler, J. R., Langenbrunner, D. J., & Stevens, E. R. (1970). The pathogenesis of orbital complications in acute sinusitis. The Laryngoscope, 80(9), 1414-1428. https://doi.org/10.1288/00005537-197009000-00007
Stevens, D. L., Bisno, A. L., Chambers, H. F., Dellinger, E. P., Goldstein, E. J. C., Gorbach, S. L., Hirschmann, J. V., Kaplan, S. L., Montoya, J. G., & Wade, J. C. (2014). Practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of skin and soft tissue infections: 2014 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 59(2), e10-e52. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciu296
Reading the PA 618 Week 2 instructions
The second week asks for an encounter write-up that opens with a line no adult service needs: who was in the room and what each was there as. Then attribute each sentence of the history to the person who said it, so a reader can weigh the accounts. Information that arrives from outside the room, such as a school note or a call from another parent, should be recorded as such. The examination is the only part that is yours, and it should be clearly separated. End with a plan that has people in it: who does what, including family members. Where accounts differ, say which you relied on and why, and keep the other. A sibling present in the room belongs in the opening line too. Cite the guidance behind the assessment and treatment.
How this PA 618 Week 2 example is built
The opening names M.J., the parent as legal guardian, the grandparent with the parent's consent, the student and the supervising physician. The history attributes the four-day sore and two days of swelling to the grandparent, the evening onset and unmeasured fever to the parent, and "puffy and hot" without pain on looking sideways to M.J. A section records the school nurse's note about impetigo in the class. The examination gives a temperature of 37.9, a warm, tender eyelid, full painless movements, acuity of 20/25, no proptosis and honey-crusted lesions. The assessment cites Chandler et al. (1970) for preseptal cellulitis. The plan names admission, clindamycin per Stevens et al. (2014), nursing eye checks, the parent staying, the grandparent collecting school work and the student marking the edge of redness. A final section explains keeping both timelines.
PA 618 Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
The write-up loses the most when the history blends the adults' accounts into one, so a reader cannot tell whose observation each fact is. Next comes a missing opening line on who was present and in what role. Graders deduct when information from outside the room is mixed into the history without its source. Faculty reward the examination clearly marked as the writer's own, an assessment that names the distinguishing findings and a plan with named people, including the family. Keeping both versions where accounts differ, with a reason for relying on one, earns credit. Citation of the clinical guidance used, in APA form, completes the rubric.
PA 618 Week 2 help: mistakes that cost points
Pediatric encounter write-ups most often fall short by writing "per mother" once and then letting the rest of the history float free of any source. A second weakness is a plan of orders with no family member named for any of the tasks at home. Some write-ups also forget to record who was in the room. If your encounter had different people, such as two parents, a foster carer or an older sibling, send what each said and your findings; we would start from the room, attribute every sentence, keep outside information labeled, separate your examination and end on a plan naming people. If the case does not say who brought the child, the write-up would note that as unknown.
Get a PA-618 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send the encounter your section describes, or the blank template it hands out, and a custom write-up is built to it and returned inside 24-48h, the first one free. Tell us the ages and who is in the room, since a visit with one parent and a visit with two produce different notes.
More PA 618 papers and MPAS samples
- PA 618 Week 1: Third Adult in the Room Post
- PA 618 Week 3: Assent Documentation Brief
- PA 618 Week 4: Family-centered Rounds Brief
- PA 618 Week 5: Anticipatory Guidance Sheet
- PA 618 Week 6: Parent Phone Call Note
- PA 618 Week 7: School Return Letter
- PA 618 Week 8: Newborn Nursery Note
- PA 616 Week 2: Pre-Rounding Data Sheet
- PA 614 Week 2: Shift Sign-Out Brief
- PA 612 Week 2: Admission History and Physical
- PA 648 Week 2: Remediation Contract
PA 618 Week 2 questions, answered
My case does not say who brought the child in.
Choose an adult, name the relationship in the first line, and let the rest of the note answer to that choice. A father who was at work all day and a grandparent who does the school run give you different gaps in the story, and either is defensible. What will not pass is a note where somebody clearly answered the questions and the record never says who.
Do I keep attributing all the way through?
Through the history, yes, and it stops at the examination. What you saw is yours and writing it as though it were reported makes your own findings weaker than they are. The plan then picks the attributions back up in a different form, because each line of it belongs to whoever will carry it out at home, at school or at the next visit.
Where does a sibling in the room go?
In the census, and usually nowhere else. A brother in a stroller is part of the arrangement you are describing and can matter to the plan, since an adult holding a toddler is not going to manage a complicated set of instructions. If the week's rubric says nothing about it, one clause is enough, and anything more reads as scene setting.
Where can I find a free PA 618 Week 2 sample paper?
A complete PA 618 Week 2 three-party encounter write-up for preseptal cellulitis in an eight-year-old, with every sentence attributed, is on this page.
Which findings rule out orbital cellulitis in the PA 618 Week 2 sample?
Full eye movements without pain, normal visual acuity and no bulging of the eye, which separate eyelid infection from spread behind the septum.