The purpose of the Case Write-Up Assignment is for your instructor to “see” what you are doing in clinical and “see” how you are making clinical decisions. For these write-ups, you will select a patient seen in your current clinical rotation. You will “write-up” the visit, omitting any identifying patient factors. Ensure your write-ups demonstrate comprehensive advanced practice thinking and not just the new skills of ordering and prescribing.
Make sure to start “fresh”. Do not copy and paste from any examples, templates, other students work or even your own work. Put all your old case write-ups away and give your brain a chance to formulate the note so that it really becomes a part of what you know. THAT will make you a competent NP.
Be honest in your write up. If you realize that you have forgotten to assess something or forgot a certain part of the teaching, add an addendum at the bottom of the write-up saying what should have been done. Your clinical faculty do not expect perfect write-ups, but do expect that you use every patient encounter and subsequent write-up as a time to learn and to evaluate and improve your own practice.
If your preceptor orders something that is not appropriate or fails to order something that you believe should have been part of the plan, write an addendum at the end of the write-up to let your instructor know that you are aware and what you would have done. You are not responsible for what your preceptor orders, but you are responsible for knowing the appropriate plan of care and you are responsible for knowing if a plan of care is inappropriate. You and your faculty are the only ones that see the write-up, so no feelings will be hurt. We all get set in our ways and tend to order the same thing over and over. If your readings and research indicate that another plan is more appropriate, write it as an addendum.
You are learning to practice evidence-based practice. Support the assessment AND plan with research. This can be your textbook and/or other class readings. The best way to support your write up is using a research article. Make sure that the article is current (5 years or less old). The article can be used to support the use of the medication (or other therapy) for the presumptive diagnosis. When using an article, please attach the article along with the write-up into the appropriate assignment category. Failure to cite your plan will result in a point penalty reduction (see rubric for additional information)