NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment – Step-by-Step Guide
The first step before starting to write the NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment 1: Case Study Assignment: Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Adults and Children, it is essential to understand the requirements of the assignment. The first step is to read the assignment prompt carefully to identify the topic, the length and format requirements. You should go through the rubric provided so that you can understand what is needed to score the maximum points for each part of the assignment. It is also important to identify the audience of the paper and its purpose so that it can help you determine the tone and style to use throughout. You can then create a timeline to help you complete each stage of the paper, such as conducting research, writing the paper, and revising it to avoid last-minute stress before the deadline. After identifying the formatting style to be applied to the paper, such as APA, you should review its use, such as writing citations and referencing the resources used. You should also review how to format the title page and the headings in the NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment paper.
How to Research and Prepare for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
The next step in preparing for your paper is to conduct research and identify the best sources to use to support your arguments. Identify the list of keywords from your topic using different combinations. The first step is to visit the university library and search through its database using the important keywords related to your topic. You can also find books, peer-reviewed articles, and credible sources for your topic from PubMed, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and Google Scholar. Ensure that you select the references that have been published in the last words and go through each to check for credibility.
Ensure that you obtain the references in the required format, for example, in APA, so that you can save time when creating the final reference list. You can also group the references according to their themes that align with the outline of the paper. Go through each reference for its content and summarize the key concepts, arguments and findings for each source. You can write down your reflections on how each reference connects to the topic you are researching about. After the above steps, you can develop a strong thesis that is clear, concise and arguable. Next you should create a detailed outline of the paper so that it can help you to create headings and subheadings to be used in the NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment paper. Ensure that you plan what point will go into each paragraph.
How to Write the Introduction for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
The introduction of the paper is the most crucial part as it helps to provide the context of your work, and will determine if the reader will be interested to read through to the end. You should start with a hook, which will help capture the reader’s attention. You should contextualize the topic by offering the reader a concise overview of the topic you are writing about so that they may understand its importance. You should state what you aim to achieve with the paper. The last part of the introduction should be your thesis statement, which provides the main argument of the NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment paper.
How to Write the Body for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
The body of the paper helps you to present your arguments and evidence to support your claims. You can use headings and subheadings developed in the paper’s outline to guide you on how to organize the body. Start each paragraph with a topic sentence to help the reader know what point you will be discussing in that paragraph. Support your claims using the evidence conducted from the research, ensure that you cite each source properly using in-text citations. You should analyze the evidence presented and explain its significance and how it connects to the thesis statement. You should maintain a logical flow between each paragraph by using transition words and a flow of ideas.
How to Write the In-text Citations for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
In-text citations help the reader to give credit to the authors of the references they have used in their works. All ideas that have been borrowed from references, any statistics and direct quotes must be referenced properly. The name and date of publication of the paper should be included when writing an in-text citation. For example, in APA, after stating the information, you can put an in-text citation after the end of the sentence, such as (Smith, 2021). If you are quoting directly from a source, include the page number in the citation, for example (Smith, 2021, p. 15). Remember to also include a corresponding reference list at the end of your paper that provides full details of each source cited in your text. An example paragraph highlighting the use of in-text citations is as below:
The integration of technology in nursing practice has significantly transformed patient care and improved health outcomes. According to Smith (2021), the use of electronic health records (EHRs) has streamlined communication among healthcare providers, allowing for more coordinated and efficient care delivery. Furthermore, Johnson and Brown (2020) highlight that telehealth services have expanded access to care, particularly for patients in rural areas, thereby reducing barriers to treatment.
How to Write the Conclusion for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
When writing the conclusion of the paper, start by restarting your thesis, which helps remind the reader what your paper is about. Summarize the key points of the paper, by restating them. Discuss the implications of your findings and your arguments. End with a call to action that leaves a lasting impact on the reader or recommendations.
How to Format the Reference List for NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment
The reference helps provide the reader with the complete details of the sources you cited in the paper. The reference list should start with the title “References” on a new page. It should be aligned center and bolded, in sentence sentence care. The references should be organized in an ascending order alphabetically and each should have a hanging indent. If a source has no author, it should be alphabetized by the title of the work, ignoring any initial articles such as “A,” “An,” or “The.” If you have multiple works by the same author, list them in chronological order, starting with the earliest publication.
Each reference entry should include specific elements depending on the type of source. For books, include the author’s last name, first initial, publication year in parentheses, the title of the book in italics, the edition (if applicable), and the publisher’s name. For journal articles, include the author’s last name, first initial, publication year in parentheses, the title of the article (not italicized), the title of the journal in italics, the volume number in italics, the issue number in parentheses (if applicable), and the page range of the article. For online sources, include the DOI (Digital Object Identifier) or the URL at the end of the reference. An example reference list is as follows:
References
Johnson, L. M., & Brown, R. T. (2020). The role of telehealth in improving patient outcomes. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 35(2), 123-130. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000456
Smith, J. A. (2021). The impact of technology on nursing practice. Health Press.
An Example NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment Follows:
Assessment Tools and Diagnostic Tests in Adults and Children
Establishing the diagnosis for patient presentations requires reliable assessment criteria, including diagnostic tests and assessment tools. These assessments and investigations support clinicians in managing the patient by identifying the cause, predicting treatment outcomes, or monitoring these outcomes. These investigations, tools, and tests need to be reliable and viable for the best outcomes. Epstein-Barr virus is associated with various diseases in humans. Human reaction to this viral infection is through the humoral immunity system. Identification of this virus can be done through various tests. Monospot testing is one of the tests to diagnose the presence of EBV in various diseases associated with it. This discussion explains Monospot testing regarding its reliability in children and adults.
Monospot Testing
Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is commonly associated with infectious mononucleosis (IM) (Naughton et al., 2021). This disease is prevalent in the US and worldwide. Being a viral illness, most diagnostic tests for IM are serological. The human body produces heterophile antibodies toward EBV infection (Byrne et al., 2020). Monospot testing is a serological test that is classified under the agglutination type. This test is a latex agglutination test that uses equine erythrocytes as the substrate. When the human serological sample containing antibodies against EBV is added to the substrate, the erythrocytes clump together due to agglutination with the antibodies and antigens on the red cell surface. The outcome is interpreted as a positive result. When the sample added does not contain these antibodies, agglutination will not occur.
The Purpose of Monospot Testing
The Monospot test replaced the Paul-Bunnell test used to diagnose infectious mononucleosis. Infectious mononucleosis presents with fever, malaise, sore throat, tonsilitis, fatigue, and lymphadenopathy. The triad of pharyngitis, lymphadenopathy, and fever is considered classical in infectious mononucleosis. However, atypical cases can also present to physicians and nurses, which can change the clinician’s decisions regarding diagnosis. Monospot testing is, therefore, a rapid test that can be used to confirm the presence of disease.
However, other disease entities can also present with symptoms similar to those of infectious mononucleosis. Bacterial tonsilitis and other viral upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) can present with the above symptoms (Naughton et al., 2021). The duration of the symptoms and the high clinician’s index suspicion are required. Infectious mononucleosis can have serious complications such as splenomegaly that risks rupture and hemorrhage. Therefore, early identification of infectious mononucleosis by Monospot testing helps provide a timely and insightful objective understanding of the patient’s presentation.
Conducting a Monospot Test
Monospot testing is rapid and requires few materials to conduct and interpret. The kit and the blood sample from the patient are the essential requirements. The blood sample is obtained intravenously, either through a finger prick or phlebotomy. The kits are commercially acquired. Once the blood sample is withdrawn, a drop is placed into the kit and left for about 5 to 10 minutes. The presence of an additional indicator to the control indicator shows a positive test, while the presence of the control indicator alone shows a negative test result.
The Kind of Information Gathered by Monospot Test
The Monospot test is a qualitative test whose findings are either interpreted as positive or negative. A positive test only indicates that antibodies against EBV are present and can be interpreted that the symptoms could result from infectious mononucleosis. Notably, antibodies against infections and illness sometimes stay in the patient’s system longer, and even after the patient recovers from the disease, the antibodies can still be identified. With time, the quantities of these antibodies wane off, but the tests cannot quantify their amount and thus cannot be used to identify the stage or monitor the disease. The absence of these antibodies in a clinically evident disease also presents a challenge.
The Monospot test, from the above description, is a test that can have false positives and negatives. It has high specificity but low sensitivity. Sensitivity is the ability of a test to identify true positives (Ball et al., 2022). According to Stuempfig & Seroy (2021), the Monospot test’s sensitivity ranges between 70% and 90%. Put into perspective, this implies that among 100 people with infectious mononucleosis confirmed by a gold standard test, Monospot will correctly identify about 70 to 90 people from the 100 people.
Specificity, the ability to identify true negative cases (Dains et al., 2019), is, however, higher for the Monospot test. According to a study by Wang et al. (2021), the specificity of this test ranged between 80.0% and 90.6%. However, this study acknowledged that these values were lower than previously reported values – 95% to 100% (Stuempfig & Seroy, 2021). Factors such as age and timing between sample collection and testing are critical contributors to false negatives. High rates of false negatives are in children younger than four years. The longer the sample delays before the test, the higher the rates of false negatives. Samples taken between the time of infection and 1 to 2 weeks can also yield false negatives.
Concussion
The Monospot test is a rapid and cheap test for diagnosing infectious mononucleosis. It is a latex agglutination test that qualitatively identifies heterophile antibodies against EBV in a patient’s sample. This test is highly specific but not highly sensitive. More tests with high specificity and sensitivity are currently being used, and Monospot should best be used in resource-limited settings. Timely and accurate diagnosis is essential in improving outcomes in patients with IM. Feared complications such as splenomegaly are preventable through early diagnosis and treatment.
What a marvelous start your understanding of assessment tools and diagnostic tests in adults and children? Based on the different tools you reviewed, your next task, week 4 assignment of NURS 6512, will require you to offer differential diagnosis for skin diseases. You will be provided with a soap note template in which you will record your patient data and findings.
NURS 6512 Week 3 Assignment References
Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2022). Seidel’s guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (10th ed.). Elsevier – Health Sciences Division.
Byrne, A., Bush, R., Johns, F., & Upadhyay, K. (2020). Limited utility of serology and heterophile test in the early diagnosis of Epstein–Barr virus mononucleosis in a child after renal transplantation. Medicines (Basel, Switzerland), 7(4), 21. https://doi.org/10.3390/medicines7040021
Dains, J. E., Baumann, L. C., & Scheibel, P. (2019). Advanced health assessment & clinical diagnosis in primary care (6th ed.). Mosby.
Naughton, P., Healy, M., Enright, F., & Lucey, B. (2021). Infectious Mononucleosis: Diagnosis and clinical interpretation. British Journal of Biomedical Science, 78(3), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/09674845.2021.1903683
Stuempfig, N. D., & Seroy, J. (2021). Monospot Test. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539739/
Wang, E. X., Kussman, A., & Hwang, C. E. (2021). Use of Monospot testing in the diagnosis of infectious mononucleosis in the collegiate student-athlete population. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine: Official Journal of the Canadian Academy of Sports Medicine, Publish Ahead of Print. https://doi.org/10.1097/jsm.0000000000000996
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When approaching a 500-word essay, it’s essential to understand the nuances of this compact form of writing. These frequently asked questions will guide you through the process of crafting a concise and impactful essay.
How many pages is a 500-word essay typically?
A 500-word essay usually spans about one page if single-spaced or two pages when double-spaced, with standard margins and a 12-point font size.
Can you provide examples of a well-structured 500-word essay?
Certainly, to see the structure and flow of a well-written essay, you might want to take a look at a student’s writing guide that provides insights and examples.
Are there specific formatting guidelines for a 500-word essay?
Formatting guidelines typically involve using a legible font like Times New Roman or Arial, size 12, with double-spacing and one-inch margins on all sides. Check any specific requirements your instructor might have provided.
What are some effective strategies for writing a personal essay of 500 words?
For a personal essay, focus on a singular event or characteristic, ensuring your ideas are clear and you reflect on the significance of the subject matter. Use concise language and powerful imagery to maximize impact.
What topics are suitable for a concise 500-word essay?
Choose topics you can thoroughly address within the word limit, such as a personal anecdote, a critical analysis of a poem, or a focused argument on a singular point or issue.
How much time should you allocate to write a 500-word essay effectively?
Depending on your familiarity with the topic and writing proficiency, allocate anywhere from one to several hours for planning, drafting, and revising to ensure a well-presented essay.
