Assessment Brief & Writing-Up Guidelines
Assessment overview:
Type: Summative Essay
Question Paper Release Date:
Submission Deadline (1st Attempt):
Maximum permitted word limit: 2000 words
Assessment criteria: Your essay will be marked against the generic level 5 rubric and module learning outcomes.
Assessment Brief:
The essay question paper will provide a patient scenario, including assessment data.
The essay requires you to discuss the assessment and management of the patient’s condition. Your essay will be structured using the A-E approach and the discussion will refer to the pathophysiology underlying the patient’s condition, relevant clinical guidelines to support the management of the patient, and your Scope of Practice as a Nursing Associate within the multidisciplinary team. Additionally, you will be required to discuss the patient’s mental capacity with reference to appropriate legal/ ethical frameworks.
Writing- up Guidelines
Essay Introduction
• Briefly introduce the A-E approach and provide a rationale for using this approach to assess and manage the patient in the scenario.
• Provide a short overview of the patient’s diagnosis, including relevant pathophysiology and 2-3 treatment priorities.
• Briefly highlight any potential capacity issues or risks (to the patient or others) raised by the patient’s deteriorating mental and physical health.
• Briefly comment on the importance of confidentiality, privacy and dignity when assessing and caring for patients.
Main body of the Essay
Structure the main body of your essay using the ABCDE headings: ‘airway’, ‘breathing’ etc. Under each heading, you should address the following points:
• Review relevant assessment data – identify normal and abnormal signs and symptoms. State the ‘normal’ parameters with reference to textbooks/guidelines and what is likely to be normal for the patient.
• Try to explain any abnormal signs/symptoms. This means linking the abnormal signs and symptoms to the patient’s diagnosis and the underlying pathophysiology and/or compensatory mechanisms. You should also consider factors that may affect the accuracy of the assessment data.
• Identify relevant interventions/treatment/care/further investigations that the patient requires – your management plan should be appropriate for the patient in the scenario and should reflect your assessment findings. You must provide a rationale for each intervention/treatment/aspect of care. Where possible, your management of the patient should be supported by relevant clinical guidelines (such as those produced by NICE, the UK Sepsis Trust, BTS, JBDS etc.)
The following points should also be addressed in your essay:
• You should provide a discussion of the capacity issues and/or risks to the patient (and others) that you highlighted in your introduction. With reference to legal and ethical frameworks, describe how will you address these issues to provide safe care. Your discussion should comment on your role in managing these issues within the multidisciplinary team, with a particular focus on communication.
• Throughout your essay, you must be very clear about your Scope of Practice as a nursing associate. You should indicate the interventions that must be performed by another member of the multidisciplinary team (e.g. the doctor should prescribe antibiotics), as well as the limits of your scope of practice (e.g. the nursing associate will insert a urinary catheter the patient if trained and competent to do so, otherwise this will be performed by the registered nurse).
• Your essay should also include a discussion of how you will monitor the patient, evaluate their response to treatment, and escalate your concerns. You should refer to NEWS2 and SBAR.
Essay Conclusion
• Briefly summarise the importance of assessing and managing the deteriorating patients using a systematic approach in order to address both their physical and mental health needs.
Reference list
• You should include a reference list at the end of your essay. The Harvard reference system should be used for in-text citations and your reference list. The reference list is not included in the word count.
