| Course | DNP 708 Systems Thinking in a Complex Health Care Environment |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Systems map with written narrative |
| Length | About 657 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Arizona State University |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for DNP 708 Module 2
Too Hot to Stay Home: Map Version 1 of a Systems Approach to Heat Deaths Among Older Adults in Maricopa County
Student Name
Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Arizona State University
DNP 708: Systems Thinking in a Complex Health Care Environment
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Too Hot to Stay Home: Map Version 1 of a Systems Approach to Heat Deaths Among Older Adults in Maricopa County
Central Node
Why do older adults who live alone keep dying of heat in their own homes in Maricopa County, and what could a health system do about it?
Scanning the Environment
Heat is not a new problem in Phoenix, but deaths have not fallen. Studies from the county show who is at risk. Neighborhoods with more older adults living alone, more poverty and less vegetation had higher odds of heat deaths (Harlan et al., 2013). An analysis of a spike in deaths in 2016 concluded that the rise reflected changes in who was vulnerable more than changes in the weather (Putnam et al., 2018). My agency's own records add a local view: in the last two summers, nine of our home health patients were admitted for heat illness, and in six of those cases the home's cooling had failed or was turned off to save money.
Branch 1: People
Older adults living alone; people with heart failure, kidney disease or dementia; people taking diuretics or other medications that impair heat tolerance; caregivers who visit less in summer; neighbors who no longer know each other.
Branch 2: Homes
Mobile homes and older apartments with failing evaporative coolers or air conditioners; units with cooling present but switched off to save on electricity bills; landlords slow to repair.
Branch 3: Services
Emergency departments that treat and discharge; paramedics who see the home but report to no one; cooling centers that reach many unemployed and unhoused visitors but rely on word of mouth for publicity (Berisha et al., 2017); home health agencies whose visits are tied to a skilled need, not to the home's temperature.
Branch 4: Payment
Medicare does not pay for air conditioning repair; utility assistance programs have waiting lists; the hospital is paid for the admission but not for preventing it.
Reflecting on the Data: Two Reinforcing Loops
Reflection on these loops changed my first idea. I had planned to promote cooling centers. Laboratory evidence shows that two hours in a cool room lowers older adults' core temperature, but the benefit fades within a few hours of returning to the heat (Meade et al., 2023). A person who goes home to a hot mobile home at night remains at risk. The solution has to reach the home.
| Loop | How it works | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Cost loop | High summer bills lead older adults to turn cooling off; heat illness leads to hospital costs; those costs fall on payers who do not fund cooling | The problem is paid for downstream and never prevented upstream |
| Isolation loop | Living alone means no one notices a failing cooler; heat makes people less likely to go out; going out less deepens isolation | The people at highest risk become harder to reach as the summer goes on |
Formulating Action: A First Innovative Solution
The first version of the solution is a nurse-led heat-season check. In April, before the first heat warning, home health nurses would assess every older patient who lives alone using a short tool: Is cooling working? Is it affordable to run? Who checks on you during heat warnings? Patients whose answers show risk would be connected to utility assistance, emergency repair funds from community partners and a daily phone check during warnings.
What Version 1 Does Not Yet Address
This version stays within one agency's patients. It does not yet reach older adults who have no home health services, it does not address payment for repairs, and it does not connect to the emergency department and paramedics described in the Week 1 case. Version 2 will widen the map to the payment and policy systems around the problem.
Map Notes
Built in MindManager with the central question in the middle, four color-coded branches, loop arrows drawn across branches and the solution as a separate floating topic linked to the loops it interrupts.
References
Berisha, V., Hondula, D., Roach, M., White, J. R., McKinney, B., Bentz, D., Mohamed, A., Uebelherr, J., & Goodin, K. (2017). Assessing adaptation strategies for extreme heat: A public health evaluation of cooling centers in Maricopa County, Arizona. Weather, Climate, and Society, 9(1), 71-80. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-16-0033.1
Harlan, S. L., Declet-Barreto, J. H., Stefanov, W. L., & Petitti, D. B. (2013). Neighborhood effects on heat deaths: Social and environmental predictors of vulnerability in Maricopa County, Arizona. Environmental Health Perspectives, 121(2), 197-204. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1104625
Meade, R. D., Notley, S. R., Akerman, A. P., McCormick, J. J., King, K. E., Sigal, R. J., & Kenny, G. P. (2023). Efficacy of cooling centers for mitigating physiological strain in older adults during daylong heat exposure: A laboratory-based heat wave simulation. Environmental Health Perspectives, 131(6), 067003. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11651
Putnam, H., Hondula, D. M., Urban, A., Berisha, V., Iñiguez, P., & Roach, M. (2018). It's not the heat, it's the vulnerability: Attribution of the 2016 spike in heat-associated deaths in Maricopa County, Arizona. Environmental Research Letters, 13(9), 094022. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aadb44
Reading the DNP 708 Module 2 assignment instructions
The posted syllabus schedules Map Version 1 in Weeks 2 to 3, under innovation in complex local healthcare systems, and the three map versions together carry two thirds of the course grade. The outcomes for these weeks ask students to create an innovative solution to an unresolved healthcare problem and to show three leadership synthesis behaviors in a systems model: scanning the environment, reflecting on data and formulating action. The course requires MindManager, and the rubric in Canvas describes the map's required parts. Expect to choose a real, unresolved problem, map its parts and relationships, use data to understand it and propose a first solution you will refine. An optional peer review of each version earns bonus points.
Inside the DNP 708 Module 2 example
The narrative follows the map from its central question outward. An environmental scan uses county research and the writer's agency data to establish the problem. Four branches, people, homes, services and payment, list the system's parts in short phrases, as a map would. A table identifies two reinforcing loops and their effects, and a paragraph shows how one piece of laboratory evidence changed the writer's first idea. The solution is described in enough detail to picture, and a section names what the version leaves out so Version 2 has a clear task. A short note explains how the map is laid out in MindManager. Four sources support the scan and the reflection.
Reading the DNP 708 Module 2 grading rubric
Because the maps carry most of the grade, expect the rubric to weigh the clarity of the problem, the completeness of the system's parts and relationships, evidence of scanning, reflecting and formulating action, the innovation of the solution, use of data and the quality of the written explanation. Maps that show feedback loops, not just lists of causes, demonstrate systems thinking. Reflection is most visible when the student shows how data changed the plan. Solutions earn credit when they interrupt a named loop. Being clear about the version's limits shows the iterative approach the course expects. Accurate citations for every data point matter.
DNP 708 Module 2 help from the desk
A common first-map problem is a tree of causes with no connections between branches. Draw at least one loop that crosses branches. Another is a solution chosen before the map is built; let the data change your idea. Pick a problem that is truly unresolved in your setting, not one already solved elsewhere. Keep the narrative short and let it follow the map. For a map drafted around a problem from your own unit, tell the desk the problem and attach the map rubric. Take part in the optional peer review, since the comments often show what the map fails to explain. Save each version separately so you can show what changed.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Arizona State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
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DNP 708 Module 2 questions, answered
Where can I find a free DNP 708 Module 2 sample paper?
The narrative above is a complete DNP 708 Map Version 1 sample, a systems map of heat deaths in older adults who live by themselves with two reinforcing loops and a first nurse-led solution.
What is Map Version 1 in DNP 708?
It is the first of three MindManager systems maps, due in Weeks 2 to 3, that creates an innovative solution to an unresolved healthcare problem.
How much are the DNP 708 maps worth?
The three map versions together carry 66.3% of the grade in the posted syllabus.
What software does DNP 708 require?
The syllabus requires MindManager for building the systems maps, with a student subscription rate available.
What should a systems map include?
A clear central question, the system's main parts, the relationships and feedback loops between them, the data behind them and a solution that interrupts a loop.