| Course | NUR 302 Clinical Judgment and Holistic Assessment in Nursing |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Holistic assessment short paper |
| Length | About 1,150 words, 7 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | RN to BSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 302 Module 2
More Than the Tremor: A Holistic Assessment of a Man Living Alone With Early Parkinson Disease
[Student Name]
Southern New Hampshire University
NUR 302: Clinical Judgment and Holistic Assessment in Nursing
Module Two Short Paper
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The organization, setting and figures below are a composite written as a model document. No real employer, client, colleague or patient is described.
More Than the Tremor: A Holistic Assessment of a Man Living Alone With Early Parkinson Disease
A diagnosis tells a nurse where to look first, but it can also tell the nurse where to stop looking. Parkinson disease is usually described through its motor signs: tremor at rest, slowness of movement, rigidity and, later, problems with balance (Armstrong & Okun, 2020). Those signs are real, yet for a person living alone they are only one part of whether life at home is safe and bearable. This paper presents a holistic assessment of a composite patient, Mr. D., carried out during a home health visit, and argues that the most important findings for Mr. D. sit outside the neurological exam: an unreported fall pattern, a low mood he describes as ordinary aging, and a social world that has shrunk to a weekly phone call.
Physical and Functional Assessment
Mr. D. is a 71-year-old retired machinist diagnosed with Parkinson disease eight months ago. He takes carbidopa-levodopa three times daily, and his neurologist describes his motor symptoms as mild and stable. During the visit he showed a resting tremor in the right hand, reduced arm swing on the right and a slightly stooped posture. He needed two attempts to stand from a low armchair. His Timed Up and Go test took 15 seconds, and he turned in several small steps rather than one pivot. Blood pressure was 138/82 seated and 118/74 after three minutes standing, with mild lightheadedness he said was normal for mornings.
Asked directly about falls, he first said he had not fallen. When the question was put a second way, whether he had ended up on the floor for any reason, he described two episodes in the past three months, both in the bathroom at night, and one near miss on the back steps. He had not mentioned them to his neurologist because he had not been hurt. A systematic review by Allen et al. (2013) found that across 22 prospective studies about 60% of people with Parkinson disease reported at least one fall and 39% reported recurrent falls, and a history of falls was among the factors most strongly associated with falling again. Two unreported falls in three months therefore move Mr. D. from a patient with mild disease to a patient at high risk of injury.
Other body systems added to that picture. He reported constipation, with a bowel movement every three or four days, and waking three times a night to urinate, which explains the nighttime trips to the bathroom. He had lost six pounds since diagnosis. He manages his own medications from a weekly organizer and could name each drug and its timing, which is a strength worth recording as clearly as the risks.
Psychological and Cognitive Assessment
Mr. D. was alert, oriented and engaged in conversation, and he recalled recent events without difficulty. His mood was harder to read. He described himself as fine, but he also said he had stopped going to his workshop in the garage because his hands were not steady enough to do good work, and that he did not see the point of cooking for one person. On the two-question depression screen he answered yes to both loss of interest and feeling down on several days, which calls for a fuller screening.
That finding matters because depression is common in Parkinson disease and is easy to attribute to aging or to the disease itself. In a systematic review of prevalence studies, Reijnders et al. (2008) reported that major depressive disorder affected about 17% of people with Parkinson disease and that clinically significant depressive symptoms were present in about 35%. Low mood would also help explain his weight loss and his withdrawal from the one activity that gave his days structure. It is recorded here as a positive screen that needs follow-up, not as a diagnosis.
Social and Environmental Assessment
Mr. D. has lived alone since his wife died four years ago. His daughter lives two states away and calls every Sunday. He no longer drives at night, and the machinists' retirement group he used to attend meets in the evening. When asked how many people he had spoken with in the past week, he counted his daughter, a pharmacy technician and the nurse. A meta-analysis by Holt-Lunstad et al. (2015) put the added likelihood of death at about 29% for social isolation, 26% for loneliness and 32% for living alone once confounders were controlled, a size the authors compared with well-known clinical risk factors. For Mr. D., isolation also has a practical meaning: if he falls at night, no one is likely to know until Sunday.
The home walkthrough found a bathroom without grab bars, a loose bath mat, no night lighting between the bedroom and bathroom, and three back steps without a rail. The kitchen is well organized and he keeps it clean. He owns his home, has a pension and Medicare with a supplemental plan, and reported no difficulty paying for food or medication, so economic stability is a protective factor rather than a risk.
Synthesis and Priorities
Read together, the findings interact in ways that none of them shows alone. Nighttime urination sends Mr. D. to the bathroom repeatedly in the dark. Orthostatic lightheadedness, slow turning and a loose mat make each trip riskier. Living alone means a fall could go unnoticed for days, and low mood has reduced the activity that would help maintain his strength. The first priority is therefore injury prevention at night: grab bars, a fixed mat, motion-sensor lighting, a personal emergency alert device and a physical therapy referral for gait and balance work. The second is mood: a full depression screen, a conversation with his neurologist about the positive two-question screen and about his orthostatic readings, and one concrete step toward reconnection, such as a daytime Parkinson exercise group. The third is to report the falls to the neurologist, because fall history may change how his treatment is reviewed.
Some assessment gaps remain. A full cognitive screen was not done, his nutrition needs a closer look given the weight loss, and his own goals were only partly explored. The next visit should begin with what Mr. D. wants his life at home to look like, because the plan will only hold if it serves his goals rather than the nurse's list.
Conclusion
A neurological assessment of Mr. D. would conclude that his disease is mild and stable. A holistic assessment reaches a different conclusion: he is at high risk of an unwitnessed fall, he may be depressed, and his social world has contracted to the point where both risks go unnoticed. The difference is not new technology or a longer visit. It is the decision to ask about falls in more than one way, to take a quiet answer about mood seriously, and to walk through the house.
References
Allen, N. E., Schwarzel, A. K., & Canning, C. G. (2013). Recurrent falls in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review. Parkinson's Disease, 2013, Article 906274. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/906274
Armstrong, M. J., & Okun, M. S. (2020). Diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson disease: A review. JAMA, 323(6), 548-560. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.22360
Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227-237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691614568352
Reijnders, J. S. A. M., Ehrt, U., Weber, W. E. J., Aarsland, D., & Leentjens, A. F. G. (2008). A systematic review of prevalence studies of depression in Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders, 23(2), 183-189. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.21803
What the NUR 302 Module 2 instructions ask for
The NUR 302 Module 2 short paper asks for a holistic assessment of one patient, going beyond the body systems to include psychological, functional, social, cultural and environmental information. Most versions of the prompt want you to describe the assessment data, organize it in a way a reader can follow, identify the findings that matter most and explain how they interact. Some sections provide a scenario and others ask you to use a patient from practice with identifiers removed. Expect a paper of roughly three to five pages in APA 7 format, with scholarly sources used to interpret the findings rather than to define terms. Read your version's rubric closely, because some ask for nursing priorities at the end and others ask only for the assessment and its gaps.
How this NUR 302 Module 2 holistic assessment short paper example is built
This example is organized by domain, then pulled together in a synthesis. The physical and functional section reports measured data, including a Timed Up and Go time and orthostatic readings, and shows how the fall history was drawn out by asking the question twice. The psychological section separates the observation, a positive two-question depression screen, from the interpretation. The social and environmental section records a home walkthrough and names protective factors as well as risks. The synthesis then explains how nighttime urination, lightheadedness, a slippery bathroom and living alone combine into one priority. Four peer-reviewed sources support the interpretation, each reported with its sample or effect size. Mr. D. is a composite patient.
Where the NUR 302 Module 2 rubric puts the points
The Module 2 rubric typically scores the completeness of the holistic assessment, the organization of the data, the analysis of how findings relate, and APA and writing quality. The analysis criterion separates proficient papers from exemplary ones. A paper that reports every domain but treats each as a separate list shows collection; a paper that explains how two or three findings compound one another shows judgment. Graders also look for accuracy in how evidence is reported, so a study's prevalence figure or effect should be stated as the authors reported it. A short statement of what the assessment did not yet cover, and what the nurse would do next, often lifts the analysis score further.
NUR 302 Module 2 help: the mistakes that cost points
The most frequent problem in this module is a paper that turns into a disease report, with paragraphs on pathophysiology and medications and only a line on the patient's home or mood. Another is the assessment written in the order the data were collected, which leaves the reader to find the pattern alone. Students also lose points by diagnosing, for example writing that the patient is depressed when the data show only a positive screen. Some papers list social determinants without saying how they affect this patient. When you revise, check that each domain contains at least one finding a nurse would act on, and that the synthesis names the connections explicitly rather than assuming the reader will see them.
Get NUR 302 Module 2 written to your instructions
Share the Module 2 prompt with its rubric, plus the patient your section assigned or one you would like to use. The desk writes the holistic assessment around exactly that case, returns it within 24 to 48 hours, and charges nothing for a first sample. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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NUR 302 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 302 Module 2 holistic assessment sample paper?
This page carries one in full: a holistic assessment of a man living alone with early Parkinson disease, organized by domain with a synthesis, margin notes and four scholarly references. A section with a different patient or template can ask the desk for a version built on its own prompt.
What counts as holistic in a NUR 302 assessment paper?
Holistic means the assessment covers the whole person: physical findings, function, mood and cognition, relationships, culture, beliefs, money, housing and safety at home. The point is not to fill every category equally but to show how findings in different areas affect each other.
Can I use a patient from my own work for Module 2?
Usually yes, if your instructions allow it. Remove names, dates, locations and any detail that could identify the person, and consider changing age or setting slightly. Some sections require their provided scenario, so check before you start.
Should the NUR 302 holistic assessment include nursing diagnoses?
Only if the prompt asks for them. Many versions of this module ask for priorities or areas of concern rather than formal diagnoses. If you include them, make sure each one is supported by specific findings from your assessment.
How long should the Module 2 short paper be?
Most sections set a range of about three to five pages, not counting the title page and references. Use the space for analysis: a tight page of findings followed by a clear synthesis scores better than several pages of description.