| Course | NSG 423 Policy, Trends, & Ethics in Nursing |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 3 |
| Paper type | Workplace issue brief |
| Length | About 840 words, 5 pages |
| Format | Business memo with analysis, APA 7 references |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NSG 423 Unit 3
Memorandum
To: Chief Nursing Officer
From: Night Charge Nurses, 4 East, 4 West, and 5 East, through the Unit Practice Council
Date: February 5, 2026
Re: Request to fund one break relief nurse, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., seven nights a week, 1.4 full-time equivalent, starting next budget quarter
The Request
We ask you to approve one registered nurse position, 1.4 full-time equivalent, to work 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. seven nights a week as a break relief nurse for 4 East, 4 West, and 5 East. The nurse would relieve each night nurse on the three units for a 30-minute uninterrupted break and would otherwise support admissions and time-critical tasks. The estimated cost is about $175,000 a year. We are asking for a decision in time for the next budget quarter.
The Problem, in Observable Terms
Night nurses on these three units are not getting breaks. Over four weeks in January, the three night charge nurses recorded, for every night nurse, whether the nurse had a break of at least 30 minutes with patient care handed off to another nurse. Of 300 night shifts, nurses had such a break on 113, or 38%. On the other 187 shifts, nurses either ate at the station while answering call lights or took no break at all. On nights with an admission after midnight, the rate of uninterrupted breaks fell to under one in five.
The current practice relies on nurses covering one another's patients during breaks. With five patients each, a nurse covering a colleague is responsible for ten patients for 30 minutes, and most nurses decline to leave rather than place that load on a colleague. The charge nurse, who is supposed to cover, has her own patients on two of the three units.
Why It Matters
Missed breaks are not only a comfort issue. A national study of hospital staff nurses' logbooks found that nurses frequently worked without breaks free of patient care responsibilities, and that the risk of errors rose when shifts ran long (Rogers et al., 2004). A study of critical care nurses found that longer hours were associated with reduced vigilance and more errors and near errors (Scott et al., 2006). And longer shifts for hospital nurses have been associated with higher burnout and with patients' reports of poorer care (Stimpfel et al., 2012). On our units, the three medication errors reported on nights in the last quarter each occurred between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.; we do not claim they were caused by missed breaks, but we note the timing. Two night nurses resigned in the past six months, both citing fatigue in their exit interviews.
What the Position Would Do
Each of the three units has about five nurses at night, so about 15 nurses need a 30-minute break, or 7.5 hours of relief across an 8-hour shift. One nurse working 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. can provide that on a rotating schedule, posted at the start of the shift, with time left for admissions and urgent tasks. Staffing the position seven nights a week requires 56 hours, or 1.4 full-time equivalent. The nurse would take full report on the patients covered during each break and carry the relieved nurse's phone.
Alternatives Considered
Asking charge nurses to provide relief: tried last year; failed because charge nurses carry patients on two units. Using the float pool: the float pool is short on nights and is pulled for sick calls first. Paying nurses for missed breaks: this compensates the loss but does not provide rest, and does nothing for patient safety. A dedicated relief nurse is the only option that produces the break itself.
Cost and Offsets
At the current night rate with benefits, 56 hours a week costs about $175,000 a year. Two partial offsets can be estimated. Replacing the two night nurses who left cost the units orientation time and agency coverage during the vacancy; the human resources office can provide the figure. And missed-break pay, which is already claimed on some shifts, would fall. We do not claim the position pays for itself, but its net cost is lower than its gross cost.
How We Will Measure Whether It Works
The same break audit will be repeated monthly for six months, with a target of an uninterrupted break on at least 90% of night shifts. We will also report night medication errors, night nurse turnover, and a short monthly survey of night nurses' fatigue. If the break rate does not reach 80% by three months, we will report why and what we propose instead.
Who Has Been Consulted
The three unit managers support the request. The Unit Practice Council endorsed it on January 28. The night house supervisor supports it and has offered to include the position in the night staffing plan. The finance partner for the medical-surgical service line has reviewed the cost estimate. We have also spoken with night nurses on all three units, who were asked what would make a break possible; nearly all named a person to hand their patients to as the missing piece. Several said they would be willing to rotate into the relief role themselves one night a month, which could help with coverage and would give every night nurse a view of the other two units.
References
Rogers, A. E., Hwang, W.-T., Scott, L. D., Aiken, L. H., & Dinges, D. F. (2004). The working hours of hospital staff nurses and patient safety. Health Affairs, 23(4), 202-212. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.23.4.202
Scott, L. D., Rogers, A. E., Hwang, W.-T., & Zhang, Y. (2006). Effects of critical care nurses' work hours on vigilance and patients' safety. American Journal of Critical Care, 15(1), 30-37. https://doi.org/10.4037/ajcc2006.15.1.30
Stimpfel, A. W., Sloane, D. M., & Aiken, L. H. (2012). The longer the shifts for hospital nurses, the higher the levels of burnout and patient dissatisfaction. Health Affairs, 31(11), 2501-2509. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1377
The Herzing NSG 423 Unit 3 instructions
Unit 3 asks you to write an issue brief requesting a change in your workplace. Expect to state the request, describe the problem with local data, explain why it matters with evidence, describe the proposed change, consider alternatives, estimate costs and offsets, set measures and list who has been consulted. Students often ask how long a brief should be and where to find local data. Two pages in memo form is common. Audits you can run, such as a break log, give local data. Lead with the request. Evidence on fatigue and errors explains why breaks are a safety issue. Alternatives tried or rejected show the request is not the first idea. Name supporters, such as a practice council.
How this NSG 423 Unit 3 example is built
The brief opens with the request and the position's hours. The problem section reports the break audit with counts. The importance section links missed breaks to fatigue and error risk. The position section explains how one nurse can relieve about 15 nurses across three units in a night. The alternatives section explains why charge nurse relief and staggered breaks did not work. The cost section gives annual cost and offsets, such as reduced overtime. The measures section repeats the audit monthly with a target. The consultation section names managers and the council. The brief reads as a document a director could act on in one meeting.
NSG 423 Unit 3 rubric: what full points look like
Herzing's rubric for an issue brief typically covers the request, local evidence of the problem, supporting research, the proposed change, alternatives, costs, measures and consultation. Local evidence and alternatives carry the most weight, since a director needs to see the problem is real and the request is the best option. Request points reward a specific ask in the opening lines. Research criteria look for studies linking the problem to patient safety. Cost points go to annual figures with offsets. Measures earn credit when they repeat the original audit. Consultation should name supporters. Rogers and colleagues' study of nurse work hours and errors supports the case.
NSG 423 Unit 3 help before you submit
Issue briefs in Unit 3 often slip by describing the problem without local data, which leaves a director with opinion rather than evidence. Another frequent problem is burying the request at the end. Students often skip alternatives, which makes the request look untested. Costs are missing or given without offsets such as overtime saved. Measures are vague, such as better morale. Supporters are not named. Research is cited without linking it to patient safety. The tone complains rather than proposes. The position's nightly work is not described, so the director cannot picture it. The audit method is not explained, so the numbers cannot be trusted. Finally, show the alternatives you rejected, because graders reward a brief that proves the request is the best of several options.
Get a NSG 423 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 3 instructions and the rubric from your NSG 423 classroom, and name the role the brief should address. We write a custom example written around a composite situation, opening with the ask, describing the problem observably, sizing the request to that person's authority, and pricing the recommendation. First custom sample free, returned inside 24 to 48 hours.
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NSG 423 Unit 3 questions, answered
Should the brief describe something from my own unit?
Write it as a composite. The situation can be recognizable to you without carrying your employer's name, your colleagues, dates or an actual event, all of which put people into a course file who never agreed to appear there. A described pattern supports the same argument, and it lets you build in the details the brief needs rather than the ones a real month happened to supply.
How is the right recipient chosen?
Work backward from the ask. Identify who controls the resource, the schedule or the policy you want changed, then write to that role rather than to whoever is most senior. Requests sent above the level that can act on them are the most common structural failure in this deliverable, and matching the two is usually worth more than the evidence you attach underneath.
How much evidence belongs in a brief this short?
Two or three sources at most, each cited in a line and chosen because it answers an objection the recipient will raise. Long evidence sections push the ask off the page and change the genre into something else. Where your instructions require a fuller reference list, keep it as an attachment and let the brief stay the length somebody would actually read.
Where can I find a free NSG 423 Unit 3 sample paper?
The full NSG 423 Unit 3 issue brief is free on this page, a break relief nurse request with audit data, costs and measures. A brief for your own workplace issue can be prepared on request.
Why do missed breaks matter for nurse safety?
Research links long shifts and fatigue to more errors, and missed breaks add to fatigue. This sample uses a night-shift break audit and that evidence to request a relief nurse for three units.