| Course | NUR 636 Primary Care of Infants, Children and Adolescents |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 10 |
| Paper type | closing reflective journal on family-centered pediatric care |
| Length | About 430 words, 3 pages |
| Format | Journal entry with APA 7 citations |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 636 Module 10
Module Ten Journal
My Patients Cannot Take Their Own Medicine
I came to this course from eight years on an adult medical unit, where I taught patients to manage their own inhalers, insulin and diets. In pediatrics I learned quickly that my patients mostly cannot take their own medicine, read their own discharge plan or decide when to come back. Nearly every plan I wrote this term depended on a parent or grandparent, and the quality of my conversation with that adult often mattered more than the quality of my assessment.
The first lesson came from vaccine visits. I used to open with a question like "What do you think about the shots today?" because it felt respectful. The study by Opel and colleagues, which recorded real well-child visits, found that parents were more likely to accept vaccines when clinicians opened by presuming vaccination would happen than when they asked open questions, and that when parents pushed back, continuing to recommend led nearly half of them to accept (Opel et al., 2013). I now open with a clear recommendation and then listen, which is both more honest about what I believe and more effective.
The second lesson was about who the plan is really for. When I wrote the anemia plan for a toddler, my first draft told his mother to cut his milk. But his grandmother gave most of his daytime meals, and she believed milk was the healthiest food she could offer. Kuo and colleagues describe family-centered care as built on information sharing, respect for differences, partnership and negotiation (Kuo et al., 2012). Rewriting the plan with the grandmother in the room turned an instruction into an agreement, and I now ask at every visit who will actually carry out each step.
The third lesson was the hardest: learning to care for a teenager whose parent is sitting beside him. With the depressed fifteen-year-old, I was nervous about asking his mother to leave. GLAD-PC recommends interviewing adolescents alone and explaining the limits of confidentiality to both the teenager and the parent (Zuckerbrot et al., 2018). When I did, he told me things he would never have said with her present, and when safety required it, I told her with his knowledge. I plan to explain this approach to families at the eleven-year visit, before it feels personal.
What I will take into practice is simple. I will recommend clearly, plan with the person who gives the care and set expectations about privacy early. My patients are children, but the partnership I build is with the adults who love them.
References
Kuo, D. Z., Houtrow, A. J., Arango, P., Kuhlthau, K. A., Simmons, J. M., & Neff, J. M. (2012). Family-centered care: Current applications and future directions in pediatric health care. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16(2), 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0751-7
Opel, D. J., Heritage, J., Taylor, J. A., Mangione-Smith, R., Salas, H. S., DeVere, V., Zhou, C., & Robinson, J. D. (2013). The architecture of provider-parent vaccine discussions at health supervision visits. Pediatrics, 132(6), 1037-1046. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-2037
Zuckerbrot, R. A., Cheung, A., Jensen, P. S., Stein, R. E. K., Laraque, D., & GLAD-PC Steering Group. (2018). Guidelines for Adolescent Depression in Primary Care (GLAD-PC): Part I. Practice preparation, identification, assessment, and initial management. Pediatrics, 141(3), Article e20174081. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-4081
What the NUR 636 Module 10 instructions ask for
The closing journal in NUR 636 usually asks you to reflect on how the course changed your understanding of pediatric primary care and what you will do differently in practice. It is written in the first person, but it still needs evidence: most versions expect two or three scholarly sources and APA 7 citations. Plan on about 400 to 600 words. Choose two or three specific moments from the course, describe the assumption you held going in and the case or reading that overturned it, name the evidence behind each change and end with commitments concrete enough that someone watching you in clinic could see whether you kept them. Keep the tone personal but professional.
How this NUR 636 Module 10 journal example is built
This journal comes from a family nurse practitioner student with an adult medicine background who realizes that pediatric plans succeed or fail through caregivers. The first reflection retires open-ended vaccine questions in favor of a clear recommendation, citing the Opel study of recorded visits. The second shows a toddler's anemia plan rewritten with his grandmother, drawing on the Kuo principles of family-centered care. The third describes interviewing a teenager alone, as GLAD-PC advises. The entry closes with three commitments: recommend clearly, plan with whoever gives the care and set privacy expectations at the eleven-year visit. Each reflection pairs an old habit with the source that ended it, which keeps the entry grounded rather than sentimental.
Where the NUR 636 Module 10 rubric puts the points
NUR 636 closing journals are generally graded on the honesty of the self-examination, its grounding in pediatric sources, application to future practice, organization and APA 7 mechanics. The strongest entries describe specific moments rather than general impressions and show a change in thinking, not only a list of topics covered. Graders look for sources that actually support each point and for commitments that are concrete and observable. An honest admission of a previous habit, paired with the evidence that changed it, usually earns more credit than broad statements about growth. A clear closing that ties the reflections together often lifts an entry into the top band. Precise citations still matter in a personal piece.
NUR 636 Module 10 help: the mistakes that cost points
Reflective journals lose points when they summarize the course instead of reflecting on it, when they make claims about growth without examples, when sources are listed but not connected to the reflection or when the closing plans are vague, such as promising to be more family-centered. Pick specific moments, show the old assumption beside what overturned it, cite evidence for each change and end with concrete actions. If your journal prompt asks about a different theme, such as growth monitoring, developmental screening or caring for families under stress, share it with your NUR 636 notes so the reflection stays personal and grounded in evidence. Keep each commitment observable.
Get NUR 636 Module 10 written to your instructions
Name the moments from NUR 636 that changed your thinking and paste in your journal instructions. You will get a candid first-person reflection that ties each change to evidence and ends with commitments for your clinic, within 24 to 48 hours, free the first time. 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.
More NUR 636 papers and related MSN samples
- NUR 636 Module 1 Discussion: A Hesitant Parent at Two Months
- NUR 636 Module 2 SOAP Note: Bronchiolitis in a Six-Month-Old
- NUR 636 Module 3 Milestone One: The 12-Month Well Visit
- NUR 636 Module 4 SOAP Note: Attention Problems at Eight
- NUR 636 Module 5 Case Study: A Feverish Five-Week-Old Who Looks Well
- NUR 636 Module 6 SOAP Note: Eczema and Peanut Fear at Four Months
- NUR 636 Module 7 Milestone Two: Screening and Managing Depression in a Fifteen-Year-Old
- NUR 636 Module 8 SOAP Note: Febrile Urinary Tract Infection at Fourteen Months
- NUR 636 Module 9 Final Project: Iron Deficiency Anemia and Language Delay at Two
- NUR 531 Module 5 Root Cause Analysis Paper: A Root Cause Analysis of a Healthcare-Associated Legionnaires' Case
- NUR 633 Module 5 Milestone Two: Systems Analysis of the Fall Response Workflow
- NUR 601 Module 9 Final Project: Cirrhosis From Compensated to Decompensated
- NUR 502 Module 4 Teaching Plan
NUR 636 Module 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 636 Module 10 Journal sample?
The full journal is on this page: an FNP student reflects on vaccine conversations, family-centered care and adolescent confidentiality, with three concrete commitments for practice.
How long should the NUR 636 closing journal be?
Most prompts want a first-person entry of roughly 400 to 600 words that cites two or three scholarly sources in APA 7.
Does a reflective journal need references?
Usually yes. The strongest entries connect each change in thinking to a specific source rather than listing references at the end.
What did Opel and colleagues find about vaccine conversations?
Parents accepted vaccines more often when clinicians opened by presuming vaccination than when they asked open-ended questions.
What makes a strong commitment in a practice reflection?
A specific, observable action, such as opening vaccine talks with a clear recommendation or asking who at home will carry out each step of a plan.