| Course | NURS 6421 Supporting Workflow in Healthcare Systems |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 2 |
| Paper type | Observation log |
| Length | About 760 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6421 Week 2
Observation Log: Ninety Minutes With a Unit Coordinator on a 32-Bed Medical Unit, Every Interruption Recorded Beside the Task It Broke
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6421: Supporting Workflow in Healthcare Systems
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Observation Log: Ninety Minutes With a Unit Coordinator on a 32-Bed Medical Unit, Every Interruption Recorded Beside the Task It Broke
Observation Header
Setting: composite 32-bed adult medical unit, community hospital. Role observed: unit coordinator, day shift, eight years in the role. Period: 1400 to 1530 on a weekday. Observer position: seated at the end of the nurses' station, not participating. Method: continuous observation with times recorded to the minute, one row per action; an interruption is any event that stopped an action before it was finished. Reporting follows the recommendation that time and motion work state its definitions, duration and observer role so it can be compared (Zheng et al., 2011). The coordinator and unit are composites created for teaching.
Log
Table 1
Timed Actions and Interruptions, 1400 to 1530
| Time | Action | Others involved | Interruption |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1400 | Begins entering a transport request for room 14 to imaging | ||
| 1401 | Answers unit phone | Pharmacy | Transport request left open |
| 1403 | Pages nurse for room 22 about a pharmacy question | Nurse, pharmacy | |
| 1404 | Returns to transport request; completes it | ||
| 1405 | Begins printing discharge packet for room 9 | ||
| 1406 | Family member at desk asks where the cafeteria is | Visitor | Printing continues unattended |
| 1407 | Collects packet from printer; one page missing | ||
| 1409 | Reprints missing page | ||
| 1410 | Starts updating the bed board for two pending admissions | ||
| 1411 | Answers call from admitting office | Admitting | Bed board update paused |
| 1414 | Resumes bed board update; completes one admission, not the second | ||
| 1415 | Nurse asks for a phone number for a family member | Nurse | Second admission entry not resumed |
| 1417 | Looks up number in record, writes it on a sticky note | Nurse | |
| 1418 | Call light display alarms; answers intercom for room 30 | Patient | |
| 1419 | Relays request to nursing assistant by phone | Nursing assistant | |
| 1421 | Begins filing a stack of consent forms | ||
| 1424 | Physician asks which nurse has room 5 | Physician | Filing paused |
| 1425 | Checks assignment board, answers | Physician | |
| 1426 | Unit phone: lab calls a critical potassium for room 17 | Lab | Filing not resumed |
| 1427 | Writes value on read-back sheet, pages nurse for room 17 | Nurse | |
| 1429 | Nurse calls back; coordinator reads the value | Nurse | |
| 1431 | Resumes filing consents | ||
| 1436 | Visitor asks to see a patient after visiting hours | Visitor | Filing paused |
| 1438 | Calls charge nurse to decide on the visit | Charge nurse | |
| 1440 | Starts entering a diet order change phoned by a nurse | Nurse | |
| 1441 | Unit phone: transport says patient in room 14 is ready | Transport | Diet order left open |
| 1443 | Tells nurse for room 14 | Nurse | |
| 1446 | Returns to diet order; completes it | ||
| 1448 | Remembers second admission on bed board; completes it | Resumed 34 minutes after first break | |
| 1452 | Orders supplies on the requisition screen | ||
| 1458 | Case manager asks for a fax number for a skilled nursing facility | Case manager | Supply order paused |
| 1501 | Returns to supply order; completes it | ||
| 1503 | Begins chart assembly for a transfer to another unit | ||
| 1507 | Rapid response called overhead for room 26; directs team | Rapid response team | Chart assembly paused |
| 1512 | Answers four calls in a row about the rapid response | Various | |
| 1519 | Resumes chart assembly | ||
| 1524 | Completes chart assembly; sends with transport | Transport | |
| 1526 | Finishes filing consents from 1421 | Resumed 65 minutes after start | |
| 1530 | Observation ends |
Summary counts: 39 timed rows and 10 interruptions. Eight interrupted tasks were resumed within 12 minutes; two, the consent filing and the second bed board entry, were resumed only after more than half an hour.
What Surprised the Observer
What surprised me most was not the number of interruptions but how the coordinator decided which task to return to. After each interruption, she returned first to whatever was on the screen in front of her, and tasks that lived on paper or in memory waited longest. The second bed board entry was only finished when an admitting call reminded her of it. I had expected phone calls to be the main source of interruption; in this period, people standing at the desk accounted for more of them than the phone did. I also noticed that none of the interruptions was unreasonable on its own. In a study of emergency physicians, clinicians failed to return to 18.5% of interrupted tasks (Westbrook et al., 2010), and I watched something similar happen here, except that the tasks were eventually finished because the coordinator kept a mental list that nobody else could see. Workflow research treats observation as a way of seeing work as it is performed rather than as it is described (Unertl et al., 2010), and this ninety minutes looked very different from the coordinator's written job description.
References
Unertl, K. M., Novak, L. L., Johnson, K. B., & Lorenzi, N. M. (2010). Traversing the many paths of workflow research: Developing a conceptual framework of workflow terminology through a systematic literature review. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 17(3), 265-273. https://doi.org/10.1136/jamia.2010.004333
Westbrook, J. I., Coiera, E., Dunsmuir, W. T. M., Brown, B. M., Kelk, N., Paoloni, R., & Tran, C. (2010). The impact of interruptions on clinical task completion. Quality and Safety in Health Care, 19(4), 284-289. https://doi.org/10.1136/qshc.2009.039255
Zheng, K., Guo, M. H., & Hanauer, D. A. (2011). Using the time and motion method to study clinical work processes and workflow: Methodological inconsistencies and a call for standardized research. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 18(5), 704-710. https://doi.org/10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000083
Reading the NURS 6421 Week 2 instructions
For Week 2, the course usually calls for a structured observation of a clinician or staff member performing their work, documented as a timed log, followed by a brief reflection. Prompts often specify a period, commonly one to two hours, and ask you to record actions, tools, people involved and interruptions. Many sections want the observation described in neutral terms, with interpretation kept separate. Obtain whatever permission your prompt requires, describe the setting and role generally and never include patient information. Decide your columns before you start, since changing the structure halfway through makes the log hard to read. Some prompts also ask you to note the tools the person used, such as the phone, printer and record, which can be added as a column if needed.
Inside the NURS 6421 Week 2 example
The header gives the setting type, the role, the time window, where the observer sat and the definition of an interruption, citing guidance on reporting time and motion work. Table 1 has four columns: time, action, others involved and interruption. Each interruption is written in the row where it happened, and later rows note when abandoned tasks were resumed. A summary line counts rows and interruptions and names the two tasks that waited longest. The closing paragraph, in past tense, records what surprised the observer, including the pattern of returning first to whatever was on the screen, and cites research on failing to return to interrupted tasks.
Where the marks sit in the NURS 6421 Week 2 rubric
Observation log rubrics generally score the completeness of the record, accuracy and neutrality of description, attention to interruptions and tools, organization, the reflection and use of evidence. Completeness is judged by whether a reader could reconstruct the period from the log. Neutrality rewards descriptions of what happened, not judgments of performance. Many rubrics give interruptions their own row, since they are central to workflow analysis. Organization favors a consistent table. The reflection earns credit when it is specific and separate from the record. Evidence expects a source on observation method or on interruptions, and the writing row checks format.
Common NURS 6421 Week 2 mistakes, and how to avoid them
The most frequent loss is a log written as a narrative paragraph, which mixes what happened with what the observer thought. Another is a log with gaps, where several minutes pass without an entry. Some students evaluate the person observed, which turns the log into a performance review. Others offer solutions in the reflection before the analysis weeks that call for them. Keep one row per action with a time, write interruptions where they happen, note when a broken task is picked up again, count what you saw and save judgments for a short reflection written afterward. Also count what you saw at the end, since a total of interruptions gives the reflection something concrete to discuss.
Get a NURS 6421 Week 2 example written to your instructions
Observation instructions vary more than most assignments in this course, so the template your classroom supplies matters as much as the rubric. Send both and we produce a NURS 6421 observation log built to that template rather than to ours. Your own observation notes stay entirely yours. The first custom sample is free, inside 24-48h.
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NURS 6421 Week 2 questions, answered
Will you write the log from the shift I observed?
No. Notes taken on a real colleague at a real employer are your record and stay in your hands. The sample is built on a composite unit so it can be shown publicly. It gives you the column design, the timing convention and the reflection register, and your own rows go into your own copy. The composite unit exists so the artifact can be published at all.
How long does a Week 2 observation usually run?
The duration comes from your classroom, not from us, and Walden publishes nothing about it. Instructions in many sections name a window in the range of one to two hours. The example covers a ninety minute stretch because that is long enough to show a repeated pattern and short enough to record honestly. Whatever window your instructions name overrides every pattern described here.
Does the log need a table, or is prose acceptable?
Whatever the prompt specifies wins. When the prompt is silent, a table is the safer form, because it separates what happened from what the observer thought about it, and that separation is exactly what the fidelity rows reward. The example shows both together, with prose confined to the paragraph at the foot. Mixed forms are common, and this one shows both working together.
Where can I find a free NURS 6421 Week 2 sample paper?
The complete observation log, with header, 39-row table, summary and reflection, is available on this page at no charge. A log built around the role and setting your prompt names can be drafted for you.
What counts as an interruption in the NURS 6421 observation log?
Any event that stops an action before it is finished, such as a phone call, a person at the desk or an alarm. Define it in your header so every row is recorded the same way.