| Course | NUR 552 Dynamics of Professional Nursing I |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | Critical reflection discussion board post and reply |
| Length | About 425 words |
| Format | Discussion post with APA 7 citations |
| School | Arizona State University |
| Program | MS in Nursing |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 552 Module 5
Social Justice and Access to Care: No Running Water at Home, and a Heart Failure Discharge Plan That Assumes It
Instructions That Assume a Faucet: Household Water Access, Heart Failure Discharge and a Nursing Response
Initial Post
The social determinant I chose is access to safe running water at home. It sits in the neighborhood and built environment domain, and I had never thought about it until a patient taught me.
The example. Mr. B. is a composite 66-year-old man from a rural community on tribal land in northern Arizona, admitted to our unit with heart failure. On discharge day I went through our standard teaching: weigh yourself every morning, take your diuretic, limit salt, keep your legs clean and watch for swelling, wash your hands before handling your medications. He listened politely and then told me that his family hauls water from a community well 20 miles away and stores it in barrels. Daily diuretics meant more trips to an outhouse at night. Fluid and salt advice assumed packaged and tap options he did not have. Our handout assumed a bathroom with a scale on the floor.
Why it harms health. Lack of running water is not rare in some places. Mapping census data on incomplete plumbing, Deitz and Meehan (2019) found that U.S. households without complete plumbing cluster geographically and fall disproportionately on Native American households, including in the Four Corners region. Tanana et al. (2021) trace this gap to legal and policy history that left many tribal communities without water infrastructure, a form of structural inequity. For a patient with heart failure, the gap affects hygiene, medication routines and the burden of self-care, and it can make a standard discharge plan unworkable.
An innovative solution. I propose two linked changes.
1. At the hospital: add one question to our discharge screening, "Do you have running water and a working bathroom at home?", and create a short teaching sheet for patients who answer no, covering stored-water hygiene, timing diuretic doses to daytime and weighing at a clinic or with a donated scale.
2. In policy: nurses can support funding for home water connections and cisterns through tribal utilities and federal sanitation programs, by writing to legislators and sharing patient stories (with permission) about how missing water affects chronic disease. Nardi et al. (2020) call on nurse leaders to address structural racism directly, and water infrastructure is a concrete place to start.
Reply to a Classmate (On Food Access)
Dana, your food desert example connects to mine: Mr. B.'s nearest grocery store was also 40 miles away. Do you think one discharge screening tool could catch both problems, or would separate questions work better?
References
Deitz, S., & Meehan, K. (2019). Plumbing poverty: Mapping hot spots of racial and geographic inequality in U.S. household water insecurity. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 109(4), 1092-1109. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2018.1530587
Nardi, D., Waite, R., Nowak, M., Hatcher, B., Hines-Martin, V., & Stacciarini, J. R. (2020). Achieving health equity through eradicating structural racism in the United States: A call to action for nursing leadership. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 52(6), 696-704. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12602
Tanana, H., Combs, J., & Hoss, A. (2021). Water is life: Law, systemic racism, and water security in Indian Country. Health Security, 19(S1), S78-S82. https://doi.org/10.1089/hs.2021.0034
Reading the NUR 552 Module 5 assignment instructions
Module 5 is the second module on multiculturalism, justice and belonging, with lessons on structural racism, social justice and civic engagement, a podcast on racism and health, a panel on the political determinants of health and an article by Nardi and colleagues calling nursing leaders to eradicate structural racism. The board itself asks you to select one social determinant of health, provide an example of why it can negatively affect a person's health or access to appropriate health care services and propose an innovative solution or policy change that would affect it. It is worth 10 points. One determinant explored through one patient or community will be stronger than a survey of several.
Inside the NUR 552 Module 5 example
Naming the chosen determinant and its domain in two sentences opens the post. A composite patient's discharge shows how standard heart failure teaching assumes running water, using ordinary details such as daily weights and diuretic timing. A paragraph supports the scale of the problem with census-based mapping research and a legal analysis of water access in tribal communities, connecting it to structural inequity. The solution comes in two numbered parts, a hospital screening question with adapted teaching and nurse advocacy for water infrastructure funding, linked to the module's reading on nursing leadership and structural racism. A brief reply connects a classmate's food access example to the writer's case. Three sources support it.
NUR 552 Module 5 rubric: what earns full marks
This 10-point board is likely graded on a clearly identified social determinant, a realistic example of its effect on health or access, a solution or policy change that is specific and innovative, use of evidence and the module readings and a substantive reply. Posts earn most when the example shows the determinant acting on a real decision, such as discharge teaching, rather than describing it in general. Supporting the scale of the problem with credible sources strengthens the case. A solution that works at both the practice and policy levels answers the prompt's call for innovation or policy change. Using the assigned Nardi article ties the post to the module. Respectful, person-first language matters.
NUR 552 Module 5 help: mistakes that cost marks
The usual weakness is choosing a determinant everyone writes about and describing it in general terms. Pick one you have seen affect a patient. Another is proposing a solution so broad, such as "end poverty," that nothing follows from it. Name one change a hospital, clinic or legislature could make. Check that statistics come from credible sources and describe them accurately. If you describe a patient population you serve, a draft built on a determinant that affects those patients can come from the desk. Keep patient details composite. With AI tools ruled out by the posted syllabus, any sample here serves as a pattern, and the post itself must be yours.
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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NUR 552 Module 5 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 552 Module 5 sample paper?
This page has a full NUR 552 Social Justice and Access to Care discussion sample on household water access, with a solution and a reply.
What does the NUR 552 social justice board ask?
Select one social determinant of health, give an example of how it harms health or access to care and propose an innovative solution or policy change.
Is water access a social determinant of health?
Yes. Safe running water at home falls under the neighborhood and built environment domain and affects hygiene, chronic disease care and self-care.
What reading goes with the NUR 552 social justice board?
The module includes Nardi and colleagues' 2020 call to action for nursing leadership to eradicate structural racism, among other resources.
How do I propose a policy change in a discussion post?
Name the specific change, who would make it and how nurses could support it, and link it to evidence about the problem.