| Course | NU 623 Adult Healthcare |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 5 |
| Paper type | Self-management support plan |
| Length | About 1,010 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Herzing University |
| Program | MSN Family Nurse Practitioner |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU 623 Unit 5
Self-Management Support Plan for Poorly Controlled Asthma in a 34-Year-Old Restaurant Manager
Student Name
Department of Nursing, Herzing University
NU 623: Adult Healthcare
Instructor Name
February 19, 2026
Self-Management Support Plan for Poorly Controlled Asthma in a 34-Year-Old Restaurant Manager
What Matters to Her
Ms. E., a composite 34-year-old restaurant manager, has had asthma since childhood. Over the past three months she has used her albuterol inhaler four or five days a week, woken at night with cough twice a week, and visited urgent care once. She was prescribed a daily inhaled corticosteroid last year but stopped it after a few weeks because she "didn't feel any different" and it cost $45 a month. She works split shifts, often 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., and she lives with a cat.
Asked what matters most to her, she said: "I want to stop waking up coughing, and I don't want to have to leave the floor in the middle of a Friday rush to use my inhaler." Those two sentences, recorded in her words, set the goals below. The clinical picture is uncontrolled asthma under current global guidance, which describes control by daytime symptoms, night waking, reliever use, and activity limitation (Global Initiative for Asthma, 2024).
Goals, With Her Confidence Ratings
Goal 1: Use one combination inhaler, budesonide-formoterol, two puffs every morning before work, every day, including days off. Her confidence, on a scale of 0 to 10: 6.
Goal 2: Use the same budesonide-formoterol inhaler, one puff, whenever she has symptoms, instead of albuterol, up to the daily maximum she was given. Her confidence: 8.
Goal 3: Keep the cat out of her bedroom at night, starting this week. Her confidence: 4.
Three goals were chosen deliberately. She also smokes two or three cigarettes on her breaks, and a smoking goal was discussed, but she asked to leave it until the next visit; that request is respected and recorded, because a list of five changes at once tends to produce none (Bodenheimer et al., 2002).
Goal 3 was revised during the visit. Her first version was "get rid of the cat," rated 1 out of 10. Rather than keep a goal she did not believe in, it was changed to keeping the cat out of her bedroom and washing her bedding weekly, which she rated 4, and then, after she thought about using a door draft stopper her roommate already owns, 6. The revision is the reason confidence was asked.
Action Steps for This Week
For Goal 1: pick up the new inhaler on Tuesday. Keep it next to her toothbrush so the morning dose happens when she brushes. Rinse her mouth and spit after each morning dose. Set a phone alarm for 9:15 a.m. on workdays for the first two weeks.
For Goal 2: move the budesonide-formoterol inhaler into her apron pocket for work. Keep albuterol at home for now only as a backup. One puff takes about a minute, which she said she could manage at the service station without leaving the floor. This single-inhaler approach, in which the same inhaler is used for daily control and for relief, reduces severe exacerbations compared with reliever-only albuterol and simplifies what she has to carry (Global Initiative for Asthma, 2024).
For Goal 3: put the draft stopper under the bedroom door on Sunday night. Wash sheets and pillowcases in hot water every Sunday. If the draft stopper does not keep the cat out, she will text the clinic nurse line rather than drop the goal, so the step can be adjusted instead of abandoned.
Barriers and What Is Being Arranged
Cost: she stopped her last controller because of cost. Her insurance was checked during the visit; budesonide-formoterol is covered at a $25 copay, and a manufacturer savings card reduces it further. The cost is lower than her last controller because she will no longer buy albuterol monthly.
Belief that the controller does nothing: she stopped her last controller because she felt no immediate change. She was told that the steroid part works over days to weeks, not minutes, and that in this plan the same inhaler gives quick relief too, so she will feel it working when she uses it for symptoms. Her understanding was checked by asking her to explain the plan back in her own words, and she described it correctly: one inhaler, two puffs every morning, one puff when she needs it.
Split shifts and irregular days: the morning dose is anchored to brushing her teeth rather than to a clock time, because her mornings vary. Days off are the most likely days to miss, so her phone alarm stays on for weekends too.
Technique: she was shown the inhaler and returned a demonstration; she exhaled fully and held her breath for about ten seconds after her second attempt. Technique errors are common and reduce the dose that reaches the lungs, so her technique will be rechecked at each visit.
Written Action Plan
She received a written asthma action plan with three zones. Green: no night waking, symptoms twice a week or less; continue her morning dose. Yellow: needing her reliever puffs more than usual or waking at night; increase to the higher daily limit on the plan and call the clinic within two days. Red: short of breath at rest, unable to speak in full sentences, or no relief after reliever puffs; call 911. Written action plans that combine self-monitoring with instructions for adjusting medication reduce hospital use and emergency visits (Gibson & Powell, 2004).
Monitoring and Follow-Up
What she records: each day, whether she woke at night coughing and how many reliever puffs she used, in a notes app on her phone. What the clinic checks: a nurse phone call at two weeks to review the log and troubleshoot; a visit at six weeks to assess control, recheck inhaler technique, and review each goal and her confidence again. At that visit, if her asthma is controlled, the smoking goal she deferred will be raised again. Her follow-up is timed so the phone call falls before the most likely drop-off point, the third week, when early enthusiasm fades and the cost of the second refill arrives.
References
Bodenheimer, T., Lorig, K., Holman, H., & Grumbach, K. (2002). Patient self-management of chronic disease in primary care. JAMA, 288(19), 2469-2475. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.288.19.2469
Gibson, P. G., & Powell, H. (2004). Written action plans for asthma: An evidence-based review of the key components. Thorax, 59(2), 94-99. https://doi.org/10.1136/thorax.2003.011858
Global Initiative for Asthma. (2024). Global strategy for asthma management and prevention. https://ginasthma.org/reports/
NU 623 Unit 5 instructions, in plain terms
The Unit 5 assignment asks for a self-management support plan for an adult with a chronic condition, built with the patient rather than for them. Expect to identify the patient's own priorities, then set a small number of behavior goals that are specific and measurable. Many sections ask for a confidence rating for each goal and action steps for the coming week. Barriers such as cost, schedule or knowledge should be identified with a practical response for each. A written action plan is common for conditions like asthma or heart failure. Monitoring should say what the patient tracks and what the clinic follows up. Cite self-management frameworks and condition guidelines in APA 7. The rubric sets length. Use a composite patient, and write goals as behaviors the patient controls, not as outcomes such as fewer symptoms.
Inside the NU 623 Unit 5 example
The plan opens with what she wants: to stop waking at night and to work full shifts without reaching for her inhaler. Goals follow, each written as a behavior with a confidence rating, and any goal rated below seven is reduced until it feels achievable. Action steps for the first week are concrete: pick up the inhaler on a named day, keep it by her toothbrush, rinse after use. The barriers section addresses cost first, recording that her insurance was checked during the visit and naming the copay and a savings program. Shift work and forgetting are handled next. The written action plan gives green, yellow and red zones with specific symptom thresholds and actions. Monitoring explains what she records daily in a phone app and when a nurse will call to check progress.
NU 623 Unit 5 rubric: what full points look like
Herzing rubrics for a self-management plan generally reward patient-centered goal setting, specificity of goals and action steps, barrier identification, the action plan, follow-up and evidence. Goal points require behaviors that are specific and chosen with the patient. Confidence ratings and action steps are credited when they make goals achievable in a defined period. Barrier points depend on identifying real obstacles and offering concrete solutions, not general encouragement. The action plan criterion rewards zones with clear thresholds and instructions. Follow-up points go to monitoring that both the patient and the clinic can carry out. Evidence is scored on self-management models and current condition guidelines cited in APA format. Writing points cover clear organization and plain language that the patient could understand if handed the plan.
NU 623 Unit 5 help before you submit
Self-management plans often lose points when goals are outcomes, such as "better asthma control," rather than behaviors the patient can perform. Students also set too many goals at once. Confidence is sometimes asked about but not used to adjust the goal. Barriers are frequently listed without solutions, or the main barrier, here cost, is missed. Action plans without specific symptom thresholds are hard to follow. Another common problem is writing the plan in clinical language the patient would not understand. Monitoring is often limited to the clinic and ignores what the patient tracks. Finally, avoid blaming language about earlier nonadherence; describe what got in the way and what will be different this time.
Get a NU 623 Unit 5 example written to your instructions
Send the Unit 5 instructions and the rubric from your NU 623 classroom, plus the patient case and the condition your plan supports. We write a custom example with behavioral goals, confidence ratings and the barriers actually arranged around, returned in 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.
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NU 623 Unit 5 questions, answered
What makes a goal a behavior rather than an outcome?
Somebody could watch it happen. Walk for twenty minutes after dinner four evenings a week is a behavior; lower blood pressure is a result you hope follows. Patients can act on the first and can only hope for the second, and the assignment is graded on whether the plan gives them something to do.
Why ask about confidence?
Because it predicts what will happen and it is free to ask. A patient who rates a goal as unlikely is telling you the plan will fail, usually for a reason they can name if invited. Adjusting the goal down until confidence is reasonable produces a plan that works, and recording the exchange demonstrates the shared approach the rubric expects.
How many goals should the plan carry?
Two or three. Plans with more feel thorough and produce less, because attention is finite and a patient asked to change five things typically changes none of them. Choose what would matter most, sequence the rest for later visits, and say in the plan that the others are deferred rather than dropping them silently.
Where can I find a free NU 623 Unit 5 sample paper?
This page gives the entire NU 623 Unit 5 plan free: her priorities, goals with confidence ratings, barriers, the three-zone action plan and monitoring. For a plan on another chronic condition, ask through the request form for a custom version, prepared free and typically sent inside two days.
How do I write self-management goals for NU 623?
Write each goal as a behavior the patient controls, with what, when and how often, and ask how confident they are from 0 to 10. If the rating is below seven, make the goal smaller, then add action steps for the first week.