| Course | NURS 3025 Health Assessment |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 5 |
| Paper type | Cardiopulmonary documentation |
| Length | About 530 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 3025 Week 5
Cardiopulmonary Documentation: A 72-Year-Old Man With a Three-Day Cough, Sites Named and Sounds in Standard Terms
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 3025: Health Assessment
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Cardiopulmonary Documentation: A 72-Year-Old Man With a Three-Day Cough, Sites Named and Sounds in Standard Terms
Subjective Data
A composite 72-year-old man, a retired electrician, seen in a primary care clinic. Reports a cough for 3 days, "coughing up some yellow stuff" in the mornings. Reports feeling "more tired than usual" and short of breath climbing the 12 stairs to his bedroom, which he normally climbs without stopping. Reports chills last night; did not take his temperature. Denies chest pain, palpitations, leg swelling, or waking at night short of breath. History: hypertension; former smoker, quit 15 years ago after 30 pack-years.
Vital Signs
Temperature 100.6 degrees Fahrenheit, oral. Heart rate 96 beats per minute, regular. Respiratory rate 22 breaths per minute, counted for a full minute. Blood pressure 132/78 mm Hg, seated, left arm. Oxygen saturation 93% on room air at rest; 90% after walking 20 m in the hallway. The respiratory rate is counted over a full minute and placed first among the findings that follow, because it is the vital sign most often estimated or omitted and among the most informative about a patient becoming unwell (Cretikos et al., 2008).
Respiratory Examination
Inspection: sitting upright, speaking in full sentences, no use of accessory muscles; chest expansion symmetric. Palpation: on the right, below the scapula, tactile fremitus is stronger than at the same level on the left. Percussion: dull over the right lower posterior chest below the scapula; resonant elsewhere.
Auscultation, using the diaphragm, patient breathing deeply through the mouth, sites compared side to side from apices to bases, anterior, lateral, and posterior. Right upper and middle anterior: vesicular breath sounds, no added sounds. Left anterior: vesicular, no added sounds. Right lower posterior and right lateral base: bronchial breath sounds with fine crackles late in inspiration that do not clear with coughing. Left posterior: vesicular, no added sounds. No wheezes. No pleural rub. Terms follow the standardized lung sound nomenclature, which recommends describing added sounds as crackles and wheezes, with their timing and character, rather than older terms such as rales (Pasterkamp et al., 2016).
Cardiovascular Examination
Listening sites, each with the diaphragm and then the bell, first supine and then in the left lateral position: aortic (right second interspace beside the sternum), pulmonic (left second interspace), Erb's point (left third interspace), tricuspid (left lower sternal border), and mitral (the apex, at the left fifth interspace, midclavicular). Findings: S1 and S2 present at every site; rhythm regular at 96; no S3, no S4, no murmur, no rub. Apical impulse palpable at the apex site, about the size of a fingertip. Jugular veins, inspected at a 45 degree incline, show no visible column above the clavicle. Pulses 2+ and symmetric at both radial and both dorsalis pedis sites. No swelling of the ankles or shins. Fingertip capillary refill brisk, below 2 seconds (Bickley et al., 2021).
Summary of Findings
Fever, tachypnea, and a fall in oxygen saturation with exertion, with localized findings at the right lower posterior chest: increased fremitus, dullness, bronchial breath sounds, and fine late inspiratory crackles. Cardiac examination without added sounds or signs of fluid overload. These findings are reported to the provider for evaluation.
References
Bickley, L. S., Szilagyi, P. G., Hoffman, R. M., & Soriano, R. P. (2021). Bates' guide to physical examination and history taking (13th ed.). Wolters Kluwer.
Cretikos, M. A., Bellomo, R., Hillman, K., Chen, J., Finfer, S., & Flabouris, A. (2008). Respiratory rate: The neglected vital sign. Medical Journal of Australia, 188(11), 657-659. https://doi.org/10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01825.x
Pasterkamp, H., Brand, P. L. P., Everard, M., Garcia-Marcos, L., Melbye, H., & Priftis, K. N. (2016). Towards the standardisation of lung sound nomenclature. European Respiratory Journal, 47(3), 724-732. https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.01132-2015
NURS 3025 Week 5 instructions, in plain terms
The fifth NURS 3025 week commonly asks for documentation of a cardiopulmonary assessment. You record history, vital signs, a respiratory examination with sites and standard sound terms, a cardiovascular examination and a summary. Faculty grade terminology closely because sound is the evidence. Cite the course text and lung sound nomenclature in APA 7. Heart and lungs are usually written as separate sections. Normal vital sign ranges are not needed in the note. Findings from a simulation may be used if your section allows. NURS 3025 faculty want each auscultation site named and each sound described in standard terms. Record oxygen saturation and respiratory effort. Keep heart and lung sections separate. Close with a summary of findings, not a diagnosis.
Inside the NURS 3025 Week 5 example
The document runs to three pages with two parallel systems sections. Subjective data comes first and stays brief: the cough's onset and character, sputum as the patient describes it, exertional breathlessness reported against a familiar activity, and denials of chest pain or palpitations. The respiratory section moves from inspection through palpation and percussion to auscultation, with respiratory rate, effort, chest shape and the location of each abnormal sound given by lobe and side. The cardiac section records rhythm, the sites auscultated, heart sounds, and any extra sounds or murmurs described by timing and location. Peripheral findings such as capillary refill, edema and pulses appear in a short table graded on the scale the prompt specifies. Oxygen saturation is written together with its measuring conditions, room air or supplemental oxygen.
Reading the NURS 3025 Week 5 rubric
Cardiopulmonary rubrics lean on terminology more than any earlier week, since sound is the main evidence and only standard vocabulary transmits it. An adventitious sound given the wrong name, or a lay word in place of a term, is the most common deduction, and it tends to recur across both sections. Localization is scored close behind; 'crackles heard' without lobe and side leaves the finding unusable. Examination sequence is read as evidence of a systematic exam, so auscultation documented before inspection costs points even when every finding is right. Many sections mark the placement of vital signs and whether saturation includes its conditions. The assessment lines are checked for overreach, and a diagnosis such as pneumonia or heart failure appearing in a nursing assessment of this kind is typically marked as unsupported.
NURS 3025 Week 5 help from the desk
Cardiopulmonary notes lose credit when sounds are described in nonstandard words, such as wet or rattly. Use crackles, wheezes or rhonchi and name the site. Another common gap is not saying whether a finding clears with coughing. Record it. Writers also merge heart and lung findings. Keep them apart. Avoid writing pneumonia in a documentation exercise; summarize findings instead. Include oxygen saturation and respiratory rate. Record peripheral pulses and edema. Close with the findings that need follow-up. Writers also forget to record sputum color and amount, which help track change. Add them. Another frequent slip is skipping the patient's activity tolerance, such as the stairs. Record it.
Get a NURS 3025 Week 5 example written to your instructions
Attach the Week 5 prompt and its rubric, plus the case details your section provides, whether a simulated patient's findings or a scenario summary. The record comes back with both systems documented in examination order, every sound located and named. Your first sample is free of charge and lands in 24-48 hours. Peripheral grading scales follow whatever your section uses.
More NURS 3025 papers and BSN samples
- NURS 3025 Week 1: Documentation Exercise
- NURS 3025 Week 2: Health History
- NURS 3025 Week 3: Findings Language Post
- NURS 3025 Week 4: Integumentary Write-Up
- NURS 3025 Week 6: Abnormal Findings Post
- NURS 3025 Week 7: Abdominal and MSK Write-Up
- NURS 3025 Week 8: Neurological Assessment Note
- NURS 3025 Week 9: Pediatric Focused Note
- NURS 3025 Week 10: Head-to-Toe Write-Up
- NURS 3025 Week 11: Documentation Reflection
- NURS 3030 Week 5: Social Determinants Position
- NURS 3021 Week 5: Practice Problem Analysis
- NURS 3111 Week 5: Interoperability Thread
- NURS 4300 Week 5: Capstone Evidence Synthesis
NURS 3025 Week 5 questions, answered
Should heart and lungs be written as one section or two?
The example uses two parallel sections because the rubrics it was built against score each system on its own line, and merging them makes it harder for a grader to find either. Some prompts ask for a single cardiopulmonary narrative, and where they do, the same examination order and localization still apply inside one heading. The prompt's own template settles it.
Does the example include normal values for vital signs?
No. The record documents what was measured on its composite patient, each value with its unit and conditions, and it does not print reference ranges beside them. Ranges belong to the course text and to facility policy, not to a sample. What the example shows is the documentation habit: a measurement recorded completely enough that any reader can interpret it against the standard they use.
Can I send findings from a simulation I completed?
Yes. Simulation findings are exactly what many sections build this week around, and they contain no patient data. Send the case summary as the simulation presented it, and those findings become the sample's findings. Anything drawn from a patient you actually cared for is a different matter and stays out, since a sample is built on composites and simulations only.
Where can I find a free NURS 3025 Week 5 sample paper?
The three-day cough documentation is printed here with vital signs, a respiratory exam naming each site in standard terms, the cardiovascular exam and the summary.
What does the lung exam find in NURS 3025 Week 5?
Coarse crackles at the right base that do not clear with coughing, with each site auscultated named.