| Course | NSG 121 Health Assessment |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Annotated interview sequence |
| Length | About 870 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NSG 121 Unit 1
A Rash That Keeps Coming Back: An Interview Sequence With a 29-Year-Old Nail Technician, Each Question Printed as Asked and Each Technique Named
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NSG 121: Health Assessment
Instructor Name
January 15, 2026
A Rash That Keeps Coming Back: An Interview Sequence With a 29-Year-Old Nail Technician, Each Question Printed as Asked and Each Technique Named
How the Interview Was Set Up
The person is a composite 29-year-old woman who works full time as a nail technician in a small salon. She came to the college's nurse-run health clinic because a rash on her hands has come and gone for about four months. The interview took place in a small exam room. I introduced myself as a nursing student, explained that I would ask about her health and the rash for about 15 minutes before the clinic nurse joined us, and asked whether she was comfortable with that. I sat on a stool at her eye level, about four feet away, with the laptop closed on the counter so I could face her. Notes were written by hand and typed afterward.
The Sequence
Q1: "What brings you in today?" [open question]
"My hands. They get red and itchy and then they crack, especially on my fingertips. It clears up a bit and then it comes back. I've tried lotion. It's embarrassing at work because clients see my hands."
[silence held, about five seconds, while she looked at her hands]
"And it stings when I use hand sanitizer."
Note: the silence produced the detail about sanitizer, which she had not planned to mention. Letting the person finish her opening account before steering matters, since clinicians often redirect patients within seconds of the first answer and miss part of the agenda (Singh Ospina et al., 2019).
Q2: "You said it comes back. Tell me about a time it cleared up." [reflection of her words, then an open request]
"When I went to my sister's wedding in Texas I was off work for ten days. By the end it was almost gone. Then I came back and within a week it was bad again."
Note: this answer changed the direction of the interview. A rash that improves away from work and returns within days of going back points toward something in the workplace, so the questioning narrowed to work exposures.
Q3: "Walk me through what your hands touch in a normal workday." [open question, narrowed to work]
"Acetone for removing polish, gel polish, acrylic powder and liquid, primer, cuticle oil, the UV lamp. Sanitizer between every client. Lots of hand washing."
Q4: "Which of those do you touch without gloves?" [focused question]
"Most of them, honestly. Gloves make it hard to do detail work. I wear them for acetone sometimes."
Q5: "Where on your hands does it start?" [focused question on location]
"The tips of my thumb and first two fingers on my right hand. Now my left too. Sometimes my eyelids get puffy and itchy."
Note: the fingertips of the dominant hand are the fingers that hold the brush and touch uncured acrylic, and eyelid symptoms can occur when a person touches her face with contaminated fingers. Allergic reactions to acrylates are a well-described occupational problem in nail work (Gonçalo et al., 2018). I did not say this to her; the note records why the next question followed.
The Sequence, Continued
Q6: "Has anyone in your family had eczema, asthma, or hay fever?" [closed question, background]
"My brother had eczema when he was little. I had it on my elbows as a kid."
Q7: "You mentioned it's embarrassing at work. How is this affecting you?" [redirection back to a feeling she raised in her first answer]
"I've lost a couple of regular clients. And I'm scared I'll have to quit. I've done this for eight years."
[silence held; she added] "I don't really have another job I could do."
Note: the redirection returned to something she had raised herself rather than a new topic, which kept the interview in her terms.
Q8: "What medicines or creams are you using, including anything from the store?" [open question on medications]
"Just a regular hand lotion, and a hydrocortisone cream from the pharmacy for a few weeks. It helps a little."
Q9: "Is there anything else about your hands or your health that I haven't asked about?" [open closing question]
"No, I think that's it. Oh, I switched brands of gel polish in the summer, about when this started."
History Assembled From the Conversation
Reason for visit: recurring rash on both hands for four months.
History of present concern: red, itchy, cracking skin beginning on the fingertips of the right thumb, index, and middle fingers, now also the left hand; stings with alcohol hand sanitizer; almost cleared during ten days away from work and returned within a week of going back; intermittent eyelid puffiness and itch. Onset about the time she changed gel polish brands. Hydrocortisone cream helps a little.
Occupational exposure: nail technician for eight years; daily contact with acetone, gel polish, acrylic liquid and powder, primer, UV lamp; frequent hand washing and sanitizer; gloves rarely worn.
Past and family history: childhood eczema on the elbows; brother with childhood eczema.
Psychosocial: concern about losing clients and her job; no other trade.
She is a composite; no real client or clinic record was used. Techniques are named as taught in the course text (Jarvis, 2020).
References
Gonçalo, M., Pinho, A., Agner, T., Andersen, K. E., Bruze, M., Diepgen, T., Foti, C., Giménez-Arnau, A., Goossens, A., Johansen, J. D., Paulsen, E., Svedman, C., Wilkinson, M., & Aalto-Korte, K. (2018). Allergic contact dermatitis caused by nail acrylates in Europe: An EECDRG study. Contact Dermatitis, 78(4), 254-260. https://doi.org/10.1111/cod.12942
Jarvis, C. (2020). Physical examination & health assessment (8th ed.). Elsevier.
Singh Ospina, N., Phillips, K. A., Rodriguez-Gutierrez, R., Castaneda-Guarderas, A., Gionfriddo, M. R., Branda, M. E., & Montori, V. M. (2019). Eliciting the patient's agenda: Secondary analysis of recorded clinical encounters. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 34(1), 36-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-018-4540-5
What the NSG 121 Unit 1 instructions ask for
Unit 1 centers on one health history interview, real or composite, with the technique behind each question shown. Expect to describe the setup, print the questions as asked with technique labels, and assemble a history from the answers. Many versions ask whether you can interview a family member and how much of the conversation belongs in the record. A composite person is usually acceptable if your section allows it. Start with open questions and narrow to focused and closed ones as the story develops. Label each question's technique, such as open, closed, clarifying or summarizing. The assembled history is shorter than the conversation and uses standard headings. Occupational and environmental questions often reveal causes the person had not connected to the problem. Keep identifying details out.
How this NSG 121 Unit 1 example is built
The sequence opens with the setup: room, introduction, purpose and consent. The questions follow in order, each printed in quotation marks with its technique in brackets, which lets the grader judge both wording and method. Early questions are open and invite the person's story. Middle questions focus on timing, triggers and work products such as acrylic monomers. Later questions are closed and cover family and allergy history. A summarizing statement checks understanding before closing. The assembled history section turns the conversation into standard headings, showing how much of what was said belongs in the record and how much does not. The occupational exposure stands out as a likely cause, which shows the interview doing its job.
Where the points sit in the NSG 121 Unit 1 rubric
Herzing's rubric for an interview sequence typically covers setup and rapport, question technique, logical sequence, accurate labeling, the assembled history and professionalism. Technique labels are checked one by one against the wording, and open questions should come before closed ones. Setup points reward privacy, introduction and consent. Sequence criteria look for a funnel from broad to focused. History points go to standard headings with relevant content. Occupational questions are often credited because they show attention to causes beyond the obvious. Professional language is expected throughout. A summarizing statement before closing usually earns credit for checking understanding. Jarvis's assessment text and the European contact dermatitis guideline by Gonçalo and colleagues support the references in APA 7.
Common NSG 121 Unit 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Interview sequences in Unit 1 often slip by opening with closed questions, which limits what the person shares. Another frequent problem is mislabeled techniques, such as calling a leading question open. Students often forget occupational and environmental questions. The assembled history copies the conversation instead of summarizing it under headings. Setup is skipped. Summarizing statements are missing. Family history is asked vaguely. Leading questions slip in, such as you don't smoke, do you? Medical jargon confuses the person. Finally, show how the interview reveals something the person had not connected, because graders reward a sequence that uses technique to uncover the likely cause.
Get a NSG 121 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 1 instructions and the rubric from your NSG 121 classroom, and say what the interview is meant to cover. We write a custom example that records the setup first, prints the questions as asked, keeps the answers in the person's words and justifies every narrowing from the answer above. First custom sample free, back in 24 to 48 hours.
More NSG 121 papers and BSN samples
- NSG 121 Unit 2: Equipment use record
- NSG 121 Unit 3: Expected versus unexpected findings chart
- NSG 121 Unit 4: Landmark and positioning guide
- NSG 121 Unit 5: Head to toe rehearsal log
- NSG 121 Unit 6: Documentation practice set
- NSG 121 Unit 7: Developmental variation notes
- NSG 121 Unit 8: Assessment competency file
- NSG 221 Unit 1: Therapeutic response comparison
- NSG 222 Unit 1: Prenatal risk history record
- NSG 223 Unit 1: Comorbidity interaction study
- NSG 233 Unit 1: Deterioration recognition record
NSG 121 Unit 1 questions, answered
Can I write up an interview I did with a family member?
Check your instructions, since some sections ask for exactly that and others want a constructed conversation. Where you do use a real person, get their agreement, keep identifying detail out and say in a line what has been changed. Where the choice is yours, a composite is usually easier, because you can build the answers the sequence needs to demonstrate.
How much of the conversation belongs in the record?
Enough that a reader can hear the technique, which is usually a dozen or so exchanges rather than everything said. Keep the passages where the questioning changed direction and the ones where an open question produced something a form would have missed. Compress the routine stretches into a line and say that you have done so.
Does the record have to reach a complete history?
Usually yes, and the assembled history at the end is where that shows. What the sequence must not do is present the history as though it appeared without questions. If a required area never came up in the conversation, say it was not covered rather than filling it in, since the gap is honest and the invention is visible.
Where can I find a free NSG 121 Unit 1 sample paper?
The full NSG 121 Unit 1 interview sequence is free on this page, every question printed with its technique label and the assembled history. An interview for a different presenting problem can be written on request.
What is the difference between open and closed questions in a health history?
Open questions invite the person to tell the story, such as what brings you in today. Closed questions ask for specific facts, such as yes or no. This sample moves from open to closed as the history develops.