| Course | NU 476 Nursing Capstone |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 8 |
| Paper type | Sustainability and handover plan |
| Length | About 620 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | RN to BSN |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU 476 Unit 8
Sustainability and Handover Plan for Post-Discharge Phone Calls on an Orthopedic Unit
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NU 476: Nursing Capstone
Instructor Name
April 22, 2026
Sustainability and Handover Plan for Post-Discharge Phone Calls on an Orthopedic Unit
The Change Being Handed Over
For eight weeks, 6 East, a 26-bed orthopedic unit, called every patient discharged home within 72 hours to check pain control, medications, wound concerns, mobility, and follow-up appointments, using a scripted checklist. During the project, 84% of eligible patients were reached, and the calls identified 31 problems, most often confusion about anticoagulant instructions and missing walker deliveries, that were resolved by phone or with a same-day clinic contact. Structured post-discharge telephone follow-up has been associated with fewer readmissions in large program evaluations (Harrison et al., 2011). Staff also reported that the calls changed their discharge teaching: after hearing the same questions repeatedly, several nurses began explaining anticoagulant timing and equipment delivery more carefully before patients left. The unit wants to keep the calls. This plan arranges for that, and it is written for the people who will carry the work after the student is gone, not for a grader.
What Depended on the Student
Honesty about this is the most useful part of the plan. I made 71% of the calls myself, on my non-clinical capstone hours, which the unit does not have in its staffing. I also pulled the daily discharge list by hand from the census report, kept the tracking spreadsheet, and followed up every problem a call identified. Without a change, all three of those tasks would stop when I leave. The calls that staff nurses made, 29%, happened mostly on light days. A change sustained by one person checking daily lapses when that person goes, so the plan moves each task to a role that already exists.
Ownership, Transferred to Named People
The table lists each task, who owns it now, and what they have agreed to.
| Task | Owner from April 27 | What they agreed to | Time required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Generate daily list of home discharges | Unit secretary | Run the saved report each morning at 9 a.m. and place it in the call folder | 5 minutes a day |
| Make calls | Charge nurse on day shift, delegating to one RN with the lightest assignment | Calls between 1 and 3 p.m. using the script | About 5 minutes per call, 3 to 5 calls a day |
| Resolve problems found | The calling RN, escalating to the orthopedic nurse navigator | Same-day action for anticoagulant, wound, or equipment problems | Varies |
| Track completion | Unit champion (named RN) | Weekly check of the call log; report monthly at staff meeting | 30 minutes a week |
| Protect the time | Nurse manager | Include the calling task in the day charge nurse's assignment standard | Policy change |
What Was Changed So It Does Not Depend on Attention
Three system changes reduce the need for anyone to remember. The discharge list is now a saved report that runs with one click, rather than a hand search. The call script is built into a documentation template in the record, so calls are documented where the next nurse will see them and a report can count them. And the day charge nurse's assignment standard now lists "discharge calls assigned" as a routine responsibility, which the manager approved at the April practice council.
Monitoring After Handover
The champion will report two numbers monthly for six months: the proportion of eligible patients reached within 72 hours, target 75%, and the number of problems identified. If the reach falls below 60% for two consecutive months, the manager and champion will review why, most likely staffing, and decide whether to adjust, for example by moving calls to evening shift or to the orthopedic navigator. This allows the change to adapt to the unit's conditions rather than being frozen in the form it took during the project, with each adjustment tested as a small change and measured before it is kept (Langley et al., 2009), which is how sustainability is understood in current implementation science (Chambers et al., 2013).
What Would Make the Change Stop, and What to Do
The likeliest threat is a staffing shortage that pushes calls off the charge nurse's list. The plan's response is not to insist on calls every day but to protect calls for the highest-risk patients, those on new anticoagulants or discharged with home health, when staffing is short. The champion will also hand over the materials, script, report instructions, and training slides, to whoever replaces her if she leaves the unit. I will meet with the champion and manager once, one month after handover, to answer questions, and after that the change belongs to the unit.
References
Chambers, D. A., Glasgow, R. E., & Stange, K. C. (2013). The dynamic sustainability framework: Addressing the paradox of sustainment amid ongoing change. Implementation Science, 8, Article 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-8-117
Harrison, P. L., Hara, P. A., Pope, J. E., Young, M. C., & Rula, E. Y. (2011). The impact of postdischarge telephonic follow-up on hospital readmissions. Population Health Management, 14(1), 27-32. https://doi.org/10.1089/pop.2009.0076
Langley, G. J., Moen, R. D., Nolan, K. M., Nolan, T. W., Norman, C. L., & Provost, L. P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
What the NU 476 Unit 8 instructions ask for
Unit 8 asks you to plan how your capstone change will be sustained after you leave. Expect to describe the change, name what depended on you, transfer ownership to named people, describe system changes that reduce reliance on attention, set monitoring and plan for threats. Many versions ask why to name what depended on the student and whether it is acceptable to say part of it will not survive. Check whether your section expects a sustainability framework. Honesty about your own role is the most useful part, since a project the student carried often stops when they leave. Ownership should go to roles that will exist next year. System changes, such as automated lists, last longer than reminders.
How this NU 476 Unit 8 example is built
The plan opens with the change and its results in a short paragraph. The dependence section states plainly how much of the work the student did, which sets up the handover. The ownership table lists each task, its new owner and what they agreed to. The system changes section names three changes that remove the need to remember, such as adding the call to the discharge workflow. The monitoring section sets two measures with a reporting schedule and owner. The threats section identifies what would make the change stop and a response for each. The plan reads as a realistic handover rather than a claim the change is permanent, which is what graders and managers both want.
Reading the NU 476 Unit 8 rubric
Herzing's rubric for a sustainability plan usually covers the description of the change, honesty about dependence on the student, ownership transfer, system changes, monitoring and threat planning. Honesty about dependence and ownership transfer carry the most weight, since graders know student-led changes often fade. System change points reward fixes that reduce reliance on memory. Monitoring criteria look for named measures, owners and schedules. Threat planning earns credit for realistic risks and responses. A framework may be credited. Naming the parts of the change that may not survive, and why, is credited as candor. Chambers's dynamic sustainability framework and Harrison's call study belong in the APA 7 list.
NU 476 Unit 8 help before you submit
Sustainability plans in Unit 8 commonly lose points by claiming the change will continue because staff liked it. Another frequent problem is hiding how much the student did personally. Students often transfer ownership vaguely, to the unit or the team. System changes are missing, so the plan relies on reminders. Monitoring has no owner. Threats are not named. Parts that will not survive are glossed over. Finally, name a person or role for every task, because graders reward a handover that a manager could check in three months, not a hope that someone will carry on. Another gap is monitoring that stops when the student leaves; set the first three reporting dates and who receives them.
Get a NU 476 Unit 8 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 8 instructions and the rubric from your NU 476 classroom, plus your project and who might take it on. We write a custom example that transfers ownership properly and is honest about what will survive, returned in 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.
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NU 476 Unit 8 questions, answered
Why name what depended on me?
Because otherwise the unit will be puzzled when it stops. Students routinely hold a change together by being present, reminding people and checking daily, and none of that continues after the placement. Saying which parts rested on you lets the unit decide whether to build the reminder into a routine, assign it to somebody, or accept that part will lapse.
Who should take ownership?
A named person who has agreed, ideally somebody with a reason to want it. A role rather than a person means nobody, and a name assigned without a conversation means nobody who knows about it. Ask, find out what they would need to make it manageable, and write down what they have taken on.
Is it acceptable to say part of it will not survive?
It is more useful than claiming otherwise. Sustaining a whole change without the attention a project brought is rare, and a plan promising it reads as optimistic to anybody experienced. Say which components are robust enough to continue, which need a named owner, and which will probably fade, and the unit can protect the ones that matter most.
Where can I find a free NU 476 Unit 8 sample paper?
This page holds the whole NU 476 Unit 8 sustainability and handover plan free, what depended on the student, new owners, system changes and monitoring. A handover plan for a different change can be built from your notes.
How do I sustain a nursing capstone project after I leave?
Name what depended on you, hand each task to a named role, build the change into systems so nobody has to remember it and set monitoring with an owner. This sample hands over post-discharge calls that the student had largely made herself.