| Course | NURS 3030 Advocating for Diversity Equity and Inclusion in Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 5 |
| Paper type | Position paper |
| Length | About 540 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 3030 Week 5
Position Paper: Readmissions Among Adults With Unstable Housing Follow Where Patients Sleep, So Ask at Admission
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 3030: Advocating for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Healthcare
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Position Paper: Readmissions Among Adults With Unstable Housing Follow Where Patients Sleep, So Ask at Admission
The Position
On our composite 30-bed medicine unit, readmissions among adults with unstable housing are usually recorded as problems of adherence: missed medications, missed follow-up, "noncompliance with discharge instructions." I argue that for this group, readmissions track where patients sleep after discharge more closely than they track adherence, and that the unit should add one housing question to its admission screening so that discharge planning can start from the patient's actual living situation.
The Frame
The social determinants framework in Healthy People 2030 has five domains, here listed by how directly they touch a hospital stay: health care access and quality; economic stability; the neighborhood and built environment; social and community context; and education access and quality (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion [ODPHP], n.d.). Housing sits across two of them. Whether a person can pay rent is a matter of economic stability; whether the place they sleep has a refrigerator for insulin, a bathroom for a patient on diuretics, or a bed for a patient recovering from pneumonia is a matter of the built environment. A discharge plan that assumes a home with those features is written for a different patient.
The Evidence
A study of patients who were homeless at one academic medical center gives the clearest picture. Half of their hospital stays led to another admission inside 30 days, and 70% by a readmission, observation stay, or emergency visit; most returns came within 1 to 2 weeks; and discharge to the street or a shelter, compared with other living situations, was associated with a higher risk of readmission (Doran et al., 2013). That last finding is the core of the position: it links readmission to the place a patient goes, not to a trait of the patient.
The adherence explanation does not survive this. A patient discharged to a shelter that closes at 7:00 a.m. cannot rest after a pneumonia, cannot refrigerate insulin, and may not be able to receive a call about follow-up. Calling that nonadherence places the problem in the patient and hides the condition that produced it.
The Ask
Add one question to the nursing admission screen: "In the past 2 months, have you been living in stable housing that you own, rent, or stay in as part of a household?" with a follow-up about where the patient will stay after discharge if the answer is no. The wording is adapted from the approach of the Veterans Health Administration, which developed and tested a brief instrument to identify people who are homeless or at imminent risk of it among patients using its health care system (Montgomery et al., 2014). A positive screen would trigger a social work referral on day 1 rather than on the day of discharge, and the discharge plan would be written for the place the patient will actually sleep: medication supplies that do not need refrigeration where possible, a pharmacy near the shelter, and a follow-up appointment the patient can reach.
The measure of success is not the screen itself but the readmission rate among patients who screen positive, compared before and after the change, so that the unit learns whether planning for housing changes what happens next.
References
Doran, K. M., Ragins, K. T., Iacomacci, A. L., Cunningham, A., Jubanyik, K. J., & Jenq, G. Y. (2013). The revolving hospital door: Hospital readmissions among patients who are homeless. Medical Care, 51(9), 767-773. https://doi.org/10.1097/MLR.0b013e31829fafbb
Montgomery, A. E., Fargo, J. D., Kane, V., & Culhane, D. P. (2014). Development and validation of an instrument to assess imminent risk of homelessness among veterans. Public Health Reports, 129(5), 428-436. https://doi.org/10.1177/003335491412900506
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Social determinants of health. Healthy People 2030. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health
NURS 3030 Week 5 instructions, in plain terms
The fifth NURS 3030 week commonly asks for a short position paper linking a social determinant of health to an outcome in your setting. You state a position in the opening sentence, frame it with a recognized model, support it with evidence, answer a counterargument and make a specific ask. Faculty weigh first whether the position is actually held. Cite Healthy People 2030 and research in APA 7. Some sections treat this as a short paper; others as a discussion. A different determinant could carry the same structure. The ask should be something the unit could adopt. NURS 3030 faculty want the thesis in the first sentence, a named frame, cited evidence, one counterargument answered and a concrete ask with a referral path.
How the NURS 3030 Week 5 example is put together
The position is stated in the first sentence and defended for the rest of the piece, which runs to a short paper rather than a post. It names the group, adults without stable housing discharged from a composite medical unit, and the measure, returns within thirty days. Healthy People supplies the frame, specifically its grouping of social determinants into domains, with neighborhood and built environment and economic stability doing the work here. Published studies are cited for the association between housing instability and return visits, stated as an association and never as a figure invented for the page. A counterargument paragraph takes the adherence explanation seriously before answering it. The closing ask is concrete: a housing status question at admission, linked to an existing social work referral, measured by how many referrals follow.
Where the marks sit in the NURS 3030 Week 5 rubric
Position pieces in the middle of this course are weighed first on whether the position is actually held, and a thesis in the opening sentence settles that before the reader reaches paragraph two. The framework share rewards using a determinant model to explain rather than decorate, and the example spends its framework paragraph connecting one domain to one outcome. Evidence gets weighed for relevance and for honesty; associations reported as associations score better than causal claims the sources never made. A distinct block of credit usually goes to the counterargument, which many papers skip because answering it takes space. The recurring losses here are theses naming three determinants and defending none, asks aimed at ending homelessness rather than at something a unit can change, and reference lists carrying sources the body never cites.
Common NURS 3030 Week 5 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Position papers lose the most when the thesis is buried or softened. State it in the first sentence. Another common gap is skipping the counterargument. Answer the strongest one. Writers also blame patients for readmissions. Show how the system frames them as nonadherent. Avoid vague asks such as address social needs. Name the question and the referral path. Cite current Healthy People 2030 objectives. Keep the unit details consistent. Close with how the change would be measured. Writers also forget to describe how housing status is asked respectfully. Give the wording. Another frequent slip is a frame named but not used. Apply it.
Get a NURS 3030 Week 5 example written to your instructions
With the Week 5 prompt, rubric and length limit, include the determinant or population your section is working with. What returns is a position piece defending one claim about it, free as a first custom sample, delivered within 24-48 hours, counterargument included and every study cited at the point it is used.
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- NURS 3030 Week 10: Final Advocacy Project
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NURS 3030 Week 5 questions, answered
Is Week 5 a discussion post or a short paper?
It varies by section. Some classrooms run the social determinants argument as a discussion with replies, others as a short paper of two or three pages, and a few assign both. The example is paper length because the counterargument needs room. If your section runs it as a post, the same order of claim, evidence and rebuttal compresses to discussion length without losing its shape.
Why is a counterargument part of the example?
Because the adherence explanation is the one readers already carry, and a position ignoring it looks unaware of it. Answering the strongest competing view with evidence already on the page is what turns a position into an argument. Many rubrics reserve credit for alternative explanations, and even where yours does not, instructors tend to read the rebuttal as a sign of analytical depth.
Could a different determinant carry the same position?
Yes. Transportation, food access, employment conditions and broadband access each connect to measurable outcomes and support a position of the same shape. Housing was chosen here because readmission is a measure hospitals already track. A custom sample argues whichever determinant your prompt assigns, paired with an outcome that has published evidence behind it.
Where can I find a free NURS 3030 Week 5 sample paper?
The housing and readmission position is reproduced here with the thesis first, the Healthy People frame, the evidence, the counterargument and the specific ask.
What should be asked at admission in NURS 3030 Week 5?
Where patients sleep, because readmissions among adults with unstable housing follow housing, not instructions.