Identify at least 3 key concepts from the selected part of the textbook and provide clear and correct explanations. Writing shows a clear logical link between those concepts. Synthesize information from multiple sources (lectures, readings, activities) and derive a conclusion in your own words. The terminology used is clearly defined. Notes: – The reflection should be 500-600 words. – A part of points will be taken off for each criterion that was not met. – A late submission will be subjected to a point reduction each day after the deadline until it runs down to zero.

Unit 7 Discussion Case Study —2 Peer Response 600w. Due 10-20-23

Please read and respond to at least two of your peers' initial postings. You may want to consider the following questions in your responses to your peers:

· Compare and contrast your initial posting with those of your peers.  

· How are they similar or how are they different?

· What information can you add that would help support the responses of your peers?

· Ask your peers a question for clarification about their post.

· What most interests you about their responses? 

Please be sure to validate your opinions and ideas with citations and references in APA format.

Unit 7: Initial Discussion-Case Study RM

· A 70-year-old woman has scheduled an initial evaluation with you. Her medical diagnoses include hypertension, hyperglycemia, mild obesity, and hyperlipidemia. Her psychiatric diagnoses include anxiety and depression. Her current medications are atorvastatin 20 mg daily for seven years, Ozempic 1 mg injection weekly for three years, lisinopril 10 mg daily for 10 years, and Abilify 5 mg daily for six years. 

· Labs: Fasting Blood Glucose – 115, HbgA1C – 6.9, Total Cholesterol – 200, LDL – 100, HDL – 37. Her height is 5’2” and her weight is 176 pounds. Her blood pressure was 146/83 upon arrival at the office.  

· During your interview, she explains she became depressed following the death of her husband seven years ago. She became anxious about performing everyday tasks without him present.  After starting Abilify, she gained 25 pounds and required an increased dose of atorvastatin and Ozempic. She has been unable to lose the weight she gained and tries to closely monitor her dietary intake due to her persistently elevated glucose but reports still craving carbohydrates.  Her depression has improved slightly but she is still anxious to go out alone, so she no longer goes for daily walks to exercise. 

Subjective: 

CC: initial evaluation 

HPI: A 70-year-old female presents to the clinic for initial evaluation. She is a new patient in the practice. She reports a current history of hypertension, hyperglycemia, mild obesity, and hyperlipidemia. She also reports currently being diagnosed with anxiety and depression. She reports taking atorvastatin 20 mg daily for 7 years for hyperlipidemia, Ozempic 1 mg injection weekly for three years for hyperglycemia, lisinopril 10 mg daily for 10 years for hypertension, and ability 5 mg daily for 6 years for depression. 

PMH: Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, mild obesity, anxiety, and depression.  

Allergies: none reported 

Medications: atorvastatin 20 mg daily for 7 years for hyperlipidemia, Ozempic 1 mg injection weekly for three years for hyperglycemia, lisinopril 10 mg daily for 10 years for hypertension, and Abilify 5 mg daily for 6 years for depression. 

SH: Patient lost her husband seven years ago and became depressed. The patient reports her anxiety increased to perform everyday tasks without her husband. The patient states, that after starting Abilify she gained 25 pounds and required an increased dose of atorvastatin and Ozempic.  She has been unable to lose the weight she gained and tries to closely monitor her dietary intake due to her persistently elevated glucose but reports still craving carbohydrates.  Her depression has improved slightly but she is still anxious to go out alone, so she no longer goes for daily walks to exercise. 

FH: N/A 

Health promotion and maintenance: N/A 

ROS:  

Constitutional	reports weight gain of 25 lbs.
Head	N/A
Eyes	N/A
Ears, Nose, Mouth, Throat	N/A
Neck	N/A
Cardiovascular/Peripheral Vascular	N/A
Respiratory	N/A
Breast	N/A

Gastrointestinal	Reports increased cravings for carbohydrates.
Genitourinary	N/A
Musculoskeletal	N/A
Integumentary	N/A
Neurological	Alert and oriented x 3.
Psychiatric (screening tools: Ex: PHQ-9, MMSE, GAD-7)	Reports anxiety to go out of her house alone and depression slightly improved
Endocrine	Reports persistent elevated glucose and carbohydrate cravings.
Hematologic/Lymphatic	N/A
Allergic/Immunologic	N/A
Other

Objective:   

Her height is 5’2” and her weight is 176 pounds. Her blood pressure was 146/83 upon arrival at the office.  Labs: Fasting Blood Glucose – 115, HbgA1C – 6.9, Total Cholesterol – 200, LDL – 100, HDL – 37. 

·
What advice or modifications to his treatment regimen would you recommend for your new patient? (Discuss a minimum of two). Please support your answer with research-based evidence.  

This 70-year-old female patient presents with diabetes as evidenced by a FBS of 115 

and a HgbA1C of 6.9. A HgbA1C level equal to 6.5% or greater indicates a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus 

(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). The patient is currently at considerable risk for cardiovascular disease due to her borderline total cholesterol level of 200, LDL of 100, and HDL 37. The patient’s height is 5’2″ and weight is 176 lbs, BMI is 32.2 as per CDC (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines patient is obese which also contributes to cardiovascular disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). The normal weight for the height of this patient is between 101lbs-136lbs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). According to Healthline, total cholesterol levels should be less than 200, LDL less than 100, HDL greater than 60, and triglycerides less than 149 for adult patients (2021). The patient has also been experiencing high blood pressure, BP 146/83 upon arrival. The patient has currently been taking lisinopril 10 mg daily for hypertension, atorvastatin 20 mg daily for 7 years for hyperlipidemia and Ozempic 1 mg injection weekly for three years for hyperglycemia. 

The patient has also been taking Abilify 5 mg daily for 6 years for depression. During this time, the patient gained twenty-five pounds and required an increased dose of Ozempic and atorvastatin. The patient has been unable to lose the weight she gained and reports closely monitoring dietary intake due to persistently increased glucose levels and carbohydrate cravings. The patient’s states depression slightly improved, however, anxiety has not improved and now the patient is having trouble leaving the house alone.  

According to the patient’s assessment, my treatment plan would be to continue Ozempic 1 mg injections weekly for diabetes management and add metformin IR 500mg PO BID with meals (Corcoran & Jacobs, 2023). Patient to check finger stick blood glucose levels 1-2 times daily on an empty stomach. Recommend the patient to a diabetes education program. To manage her cholesterol levels, I would titrate her atorvastatin from 20 mg to 40 mg PO daily. Re-check patient's lipid levels in 2-4 weeks (Drugs, 2023). To manage her high blood pressure, I would increase her lisinopril to 10 mg PO BID as a study shows that prescribing lisinopril twice daily vs once daily shows more improvements in SBP. Mean adjusted SBP reduction was 10.2 mm Hg greater in the twice‐daily cohort compared with the once‐daily cohort (Tsai et al., 2017). The patient will be coming back for follow-up in 2-4 weeks for further treatment outcome and if necessary, treatment plan adjustment.  

The patient has chronic depression that has improved slightly; however, she does voice increased anxiety and new symptoms of fear of going out alone since her husband died seven years ago. The patient is now restricting herself from going out for walks and exercise. She is starting to exhibit symptoms of agoraphobia. The patient is currently taking Abilify 5 mg PO daily for 6 years. Typically, second-generation antipsychotics are not the first line of treatment for depression, they are used once they have tried many antidepressants with no effect. I suggest treatment augmentation with an antidepressant. Zoloft is an SSRI that does not counteract Abilify, start Zoloft at 25 mg PO daily and increase the dose weekly as needed. Zoloft is used for depression and social anxiety disorder (Psych Central, 2021). The patient will also benefit from psychopharmacology, psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy. 

Lastly, lifestyle change recommendations include diet and exercise modification. Work your way up to 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week. This could be brisk walking 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Or you could do 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity each week, such as swimming laps. Regular physical activity provides immediate and long-term 

health benefits.Links to an external site.
 Physical activity and weight loss will Improve sleep quality, reduce high blood pressure, and reduce risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack, stroke, and 

several forms of cancerLinks to an external site.
. It can help reduce arthritis pain and associated disability, reduce the risk for osteoporosis and falls, and reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). 

·
If you suggested additional medication, look up your state’s prescribing laws. Are PMHNP’s able to prescribe the medication you recommended?  

 Yes, as a practicing PMHNP for the state of Pennsylvania, prescribe drugs, devices, and Schedule II-V controlled substances if there is a written collaboration agreement with a physician (Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, n.d.).  

References: 

Balaram, K., & Marwaha, R. (2023). Agoraphobia.
 NIH. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554387/Links to an external site.
 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Adult BMI calculator. CDC. 

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.htmlLinks to an external site.
 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Diabetes tests. 
CDC. 

  

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/getting-tested.htmlLinks to an external site.
 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023). Physical activity for a healthy weight. 
CDC. 

https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/physical_activity/index.htmlLinks to an external site.
 

Corcoran, C., & Jacobs, T.F. (2023). Metformin. 
NIH. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK518983/Links to an external site.
 

Drugs. (2023). Atorvastatin dosage. 

https://www.drugs.com/dosage/atorvastatin.html#Usual_Adult_Dose_for_HypertriglyceridemiaLinks to an external site.
 

Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners. (n.d.). Scope of Practice. PACNP. 

https://www.pacnp.org/page/ScopeofPractice#:~:text=In%20Pennsylvania%2C%20an%20NP%20may,collaboration%20agreement%20with%20a%20physicianLinks to an external site.
. 

Psych Central. (2021). Zoloft: What you want to know? 

https://psychcentral.com/drugs/zoloft#basicsLinks to an external site.
 

Tsai, T., Kroehl, M. E., Smith, S. M., Thompson, A. M., Dai, I. Y., & Trinkley, K. E. (2017). Efficacy and 

safety of twice- vs once-daily dosing of lisinopril for hypertension. 
Journal of clinical hypertension (Greenwich, Conn.), 
19(9), 868–873. https://doi.org/10.1111/jch.13011 

Unit 7 Discussion Case Study MV

What would be your approach to managing this patient’s weight concern? (Discuss at least two aspects of your approach). Support your answer with research-based evidence.

In managing this patient's weight concern, a comprehensive approach that addresses both behavioral and pharmacological aspects would be necessary. First and foremost it's crucial to evaluate if the patient is prepared to make changes and how motivated she is to lose weight. We can use motivational interviewing techniques to delve into her reasons, for wanting to shed pounds and uncover any obstacles or difficulties she might encounter (Bischof et al., 2021). To address her worries, about how her weight might affect her ability to care for her child it could be advantageous to involve a team of professionals that includes a registered dietitian, an exercise specialist and a psychologist or therapist. The dietitian can work with the patient to develop a personalized meal plan that takes into consideration her busy schedule and frequent eating out habits. Emphasizing portion control, incorporating healthier food choices, and encouraging mindful eating practices have been shown to be effective in managing obesity (Foster et al., 2018). In terms of physical activity, an exercise specialist can help the patient create an individualized exercise routine that is feasible given her current responsibilities as a stay-at-home mother. Promoting regular physical activity has been found to aid in weight loss so finding activities that she enjoys and can incorporate into her daily routine will enhance adherence maintenance (Posadzki et al., 2020).

What would be our approach to the sexual side effects she is experiencing?

Regarding the sexual side effects experienced by the patient, it is crucial to address these concerns openly and compassionately. It's important to determine whether the issues are primarily caused by medication use or if they're influenced by factors, like stress or relationship dynamics. It might be beneficial to educate the patient about how fluoxetine and olanzapine can affect sexual functioning. If it is determined that the medication is causing these problems switching from fluoxetine to another antidepressant that has a less impact on sexual function could be considered. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as fluoxetine have been linked to sexual dysfunction (Yuan et al., 2021). Bupropion, which is an atypical antidepressant, with a lower likelihood of causing sexual side effects could be an alternative option worth exploring (Montejo et al., 2019).

If you suggest additional medication, look up your state’s prescribing laws. Are PMHNPs able to prescribe the medication you recommend?

Before suggesting any additional medication options such as Bupropion, it is essential to review prescribing laws specific to Illinois. As a PMHNP prescribing additional medication for the above concerns would depend on state laws. According to the Illinois Nurse Practice Act (2017), advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) including PMHNPs have prescriptive authority. However, there are specific conditions and restrictions outlined in the Act (AANP, 2022). Therefore, it is necessary to review the current regulations and guidelines set forth by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to ensure compliance with prescribing laws when considering Bupropion as a treatment option for this patient (Kleinpell et al., 2023). Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners (PMHNPs) in Illinois have prescriptive authority to reduce practice. Illinois state law requires a career-long regulated collaborative agreement with a psychiatrist in order for the NP to prescribe medication. The nurse practitioner-psychiatrist collaborative practice agreement outlines their working relationship. It describes the categories of care, treatment, and procedures the nurse practitioner expects to perform (AANP, 2022). In Illinois, psychiatrists are not required to be physically present with the PMHNP. The psychiatrist must be available for consultation whether in person or by phone. A collaborating psychiatrist and PMHNP are required to meet at least once a month (AANP, 2022).

Include the subjective and objective information in this post.

Subjective information:

The patient reports concerns about her weight and its impact on her ability to care for her disabled child after her husband's death. She has tried numerous 'fad diets' without long-term success, losing only 15 pounds at most and maintaining it for three months. The patient expresses feelings of shame related to sexual dysfunction, specifically difficulty achieving orgasm during intimate moments with her husband.

Objective information:

The patient's objective data include being morbidly obese at 340 pounds with a height of 5'5″. She also has type II diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Additionally, she eats out frequently due to her children's busy schedules and leads a sedentary lifestyle with no regular physical activity.

References

American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2022). State practice by type. Retrieved from https://www.aanp.org/legislation-regulation/state-legislation/state-practice-environment/66-legislation-regulation/state-practice-environment/1380-state-practice-by-typeLinks to an external site.

Bischof, G., Bischof, A., & Rumpf, H.-J. (2021). Motivational interviewing: An evidence-based approach for use in medical practice. Deutsches Ärzteblatt international. https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.m2021.0014Links to an external site.

Foster, D., Sanchez-Collins, S., & Cheskin, L. J. (2018). Multidisciplinary team–based obesity treatment in patients with diabetes: Current practices and the state of the science. Diabetes Spectrum, 30(4), 244–249. https://doi.org/10.2337/ds17-0045Links to an external site.

Kleinpell, R., Myers, C. R., & Schorn, M. N. (2023). Addressing barriers to aprn practice: Policy and regulatory implications during covid-19. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 14(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2155-8256(23)00064-9Links to an external site.

Montejo, A., Prieto, N., de Alarcón, R., Casado-Espada, N., de la Iglesia, J., & Montejo, L. (2019). Management strategies for antidepressant-related sexual dysfunction: A clinical approach. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(10), 1640. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8101640Links to an external site.

Posadzki, P., Pieper, D., Bajpai, R., Makaruk, H., Könsgen, N., Neuhaus, A., & Semwal, M. (2020). Exercise/physical activity and health outcomes: An overview of cochrane systematic reviews. BMC Public Health, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09855-3Links to an external site.

Yuan, S., & Deban, C. E. (2021). Ssri-induced hypersexuality. American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal, 16(3), 9–12. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp-rj.2021.160305Links to an external site.

Introduction

Interprofessional collaboration is a critical aspect of a nurse’s work. Through interprofessional collaboration, practitioners and patients share information and consider each other’s perspectives to better understand and address the many factors that contribute to health and well-being (Sullivan et al., 2015). Essentially, by collaborating, health care practitioners and patients can have better health outcomes. Nurses, who are often at the frontlines of interacting with various groups and records, are full partners in this approach to health care.Reflection is a key part of building interprofessional competence, as it allows you to look critically at experiences and actions through specific lenses. From the standpoint of interprofessional collaboration, reflection can help you consider potential reasons for and causes of people’s actions and behaviors (Saunders et al., 2016). It also can provide opportunities to examine the roles team members adopted in a given situation as well as how the team could have worked more effectively.As you begin to prepare this assessment you are encouraged to complete the What is Reflective Practice? activity. The activity consists of five questions that will allow you the opportunity to practice self-reflection. The information gained from completing this formative will help with your success on the Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video assessment. Completing formatives is also a way to demonstrate course engagement Note: The Example Kaltura Reflection demonstrates how to cite sources appropriately in an oral presentation/video. Your assessment will reflect on either a professional collaboration you experienced or a collaboration case study scenario that you imagine you experienced

References

Saunders, R., Singer, R., Dugmore, H., Seaman, K., & Lake, F. (2016). Nursing students’ reflections on an interprofessional placement in ambulatory care. Reflective Practice, 17(4), 393–402.Sullivan, M., Kiovsky, R., Mason, D., Hill, C., Duke, C. (2015). Interprofessional collaboration and education. American Journal of Nursing, 115(3), 47–54.

Demonstration of Proficiency

• Competency 1: Explain strategies for managing human and financial resources to promote organizational health.
  • Identify how poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and financial resources supported by evidence from the literature.
• Competency 2: Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to achieve desired patient and systems outcomes.
  • Reflect on an interdisciplinary collaboration experience noting ways in which it was successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes.
  • Identify best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team to achieve its goals and work more effectively together.
• Competency 4: Explain how change management theories and leadership strategies can enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals.
  • Identify best-practice leadership strategies from the literature, which would improve an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based communication strategies to impact patient, interdisciplinary team, and systems outcomes.
  • Communicate via video with clear sound and light.
  • The full reference list is from relevant and evidence-based (published within 5 years) sources, exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.

Professional Context

This assessment will help you to become a reflective practitioner. By considering your own successes and shortcomings in interprofessional collaboration, you will increase awareness of your problem-solving abilities. You will create a Kaltura video of your reflections, including a discussion of best practices for interprofessional collaboration and leadership strategies, supported by references to the literature.You may choose to reflect on a collaborative interprofessional project you worked on in your current or former place of practice, or you may choose to imagine that you worked on the collaborative interprofessional scenario presented in the Assessment 01 Supplement: Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video [PDF] resource.

Scenario

As part of an initiative to build effective collaboration at a site where you work as a nurse, you have been asked to:

• Reflect on an interprofessional collaborative project.
• Examine what happened during the collaboration.
• Identify positive aspects and areas for improvement.
• Research best practice for interprofessional collaboration.
• Use lessons learned from your research and experience to create a video reflection (5-10 minutes) that share suggestions for improving interprofessional collaboration that can be shared with leadership and colleagues.

Instructions

Using Kaltura, record a video (5–10 minutes) where you reflect on an interprofessional collaboration experience, proposing recommendations for how to improve interprofessional collaboration that can be shared with leadership and colleagues. Support these recommendations with references to the literature.The interprofessional project that you reflect on may be one that you collaborated on at your current or former place of practice, or you may choose to imagine you collaborated on the interprofessional project presented in the Assessment 01 Supplement: Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video [PDF] Download Assessment 01 Supplement: Collaboration and Leadership Reflection Video [PDF]resource and reflect on that.Be sure that your assessment addresses the following criteria. Please study the scoring guide carefully so you will know what is needed for a distinguished score:

• Reflect on an interdisciplinary collaboration experience, noting ways in which it was successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes.
  • Explain aspects of the collaboration that helped the team make progress toward relevant goals or outcomes.
  • Explain aspects of the collaboration that could have been improved.
• Identify how poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and financial resources, citing supporting evidence from the literature.
  • Discuss the ways in which the interdisciplinary team did not collaborate effectively.
  • Discuss the negative implications for the human and financial resources of the interdisciplinary team and the organization as a whole.
  • Cite the literature for support.
• Identify best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would improve an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals, citing at least one author from the literature.
  • Identify at least one leadership best practice or strategy that you believe would improve the team’s ability to achieve their goals.
  • Identify the strategy and its source or author and provide a brief rationale for your choice of strategy.
  • Cite the literature for support.
• Identify best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team achieve its goals and work together, citing the work of at least one author.
  • Identify at least one best practice or strategy for interdisciplinary collaboration to help the team achieve its goals and work more effectively together.
  • Identify the strategy, its source, and reasons why you think it will be effective.
• Communicate in a professional manner, is easily audible, and uses proper grammar. Format reference list in current APA style.
  • Submit an APA-formatted reference list for any sources that you cited specifically in your video or used to inform your presentation.
  • The Example Kaltura Reflection will show you how to cite scholarly sources in the context of an oral presentation.
• Notes: 
• Refer to the Campus tutorial Using Kaltura [PDF] as needed to record and upload your reflection.
• If you require the use of assistive technology or alternative communication methods to participate in this activity, please contact [email protected] to request accommodations.
• If, for some reason, you are unable to record a video, please contact your faculty member as soon as possible to explore options for completing the assessment.

Additional Requirements

• References: Cite at least 3 professional or scholarly sources of evidence to support the assertions you make in your video. Include additional properly cited references as necessary to support your statements.
• APA Reference Page: Submit a correctly formatted APA reference page that shows all the sources you used to create and deliver your video.
  • You may wish to refer to the Campus APA Module for more information on applying APA style.
• Portfolio Prompt: Remember to save the final assessment to your ePortfolio so that you may refer to it as you complete the final Capstone course.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Explain strategies for managing human and financial resources to promote organizational health.
  • Identify ways poor collaboration can result in inefficient management of human and financial resources, supported by evidence from the literature.
• Competency 2: Explain how interdisciplinary collaboration can be used to achieve desired patient and systems outcomes.
  • Reflect on an interdisciplinary collaboration experience, noting ways in which it was successful and unsuccessful in achieving desired outcomes.
  • Identify best-practice interdisciplinary collaboration strategies to help a team to achieve its goals and work together more effectively.
• Competency 4: Explain how change management theories and leadership strategies can enable interdisciplinary teams to achieve specific organizational goals.
  • Identify best-practice leadership strategies from the literature that would improve an interdisciplinary team’s ability to achieve its goals.
• Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly, evidence-based communication strategies to impact patient, interdisciplinary team, and systems outcomes.
  • Communicate via video with clear sound and light.
  • The full reference list is from relevant and evidence-based (published within 5 years) sources, exhibiting nearly flawless adherence to APA format.

Assignment Guide: The Personal Narrative

Assignment Prompt

For this assignment, you will be writing a personal narrative–a story–illustrating an event or experience exemplifying gratitude. In other words, share a colorful story about an experience or event for which–either during or after the event– you feel or felt thankful.  

An example might be writing about your experience as a senior in high school and the teacher who  helped you to achieve your goal of graduating and attending college.  Another example might be writing a story about your experience growing up in a rural community, acknowledging that it was this small, but mighty, community that made you who you are today, and for this, you are thankful.  Sharing a story about a loved one whose influence has been meaningful to you in some way, and thus, you feel so very thankful for their role in your life, or in that particular experience, would also be an example. FInally, 
drafting a story about any experience in your life for which you are thankful it occured would be a great topic to explore for this narrative assignment. 

Assignment-Specific Requirements:

Length: This assignment should be at least 550 words. 

Thesis

: Underline your descriptive 
thesis statement or the point of your story.

Sources/

Evidence

 Needed:  No outside/
secondary sources are needed.

Page Formatting: See 
Appendix C – Formatting and Submitting Your Work

MLA

 Requirements: See 
Formatting your Essay: MLA 8th Edition

Rhetorical Mode

A personal narrative is a story about you. Narrative, from the Latin 
narrare, means to narrate a tale or a story. The narrative you will write will be a “personal” narrative.  Thus, the story will be written by you, about you, and in a lot of ways, for you. What makes a personal narrative so interesting is that it’s a story with a point or purpose.   In other words, a personal narrative is detailed, descriptive, 
dialogue-driven, and determined to make a point. 

Rhetorical Considerations

Purpose:

There needs to be a reason, not only for writing the narrative, but also for why the 
reader should read it. The purpose of the personal narrative is to share a meaningful experience and the lesson learned from the experience. Specifically, the purpose of this essay is to share a story about a time you experienced gratitude.

Audience:

In many ways, we write a personal narrative for ourselves to reflect upon an experience, to grow from an event. However, we want you to imagine that your 
audience is not only you but someone else. The writer needs to know who their 
audience is and how their needs will affect the way the narrative is composed and presented. For example, in addition to writing this story as an opportunity for personal reflection, you may also choose a family member or friend group as your real or imagined 
audience.  Selecting a real or imagined 
audience will help you develop your essay with the right 
tone. The 
tone for a personal narrative can be formal or informal; it really depends on your chosen 
audience. 

Form:

This piece of writing will be presented using a story format.  It will have a beginning, middle, and end.  The story will be written with a clear 
introduction paragraph, a body of 
story-development paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. While a personal narrative is less “formal” than traditional academic writing, your story should have a 
thesis statement. Thus allowing the 
reader to truly understand the point of your story.

Six Features of a Personal Narrative

1.
Essay 

Organization

: The Personal Narrative is organized with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should read like a story–with an 
exposition, a 
rise action, a 
climax, a 
falling action and a 
resolution or denouement.  While the Personal Narrative is certainly less formal than other academic essays, the point or moral of the story (i.e. the 
thesis) should be very clear to the 
reader.

2.

Transition

s: The Personal Narrative utilizes 
paragraph breaks and 
transitional words and phrases that help the 
audience (or 
reader) flow in and around the story. Read more about paragraph 
transitions in Appendix A. 

3.
Character 

Description

:  Develop the 
characters in the story so that the 
reader has a clear understanding of the people in the story–even if the one person in the story is YOU. Help your 
reader learn about the 
characters both by what they say and by what they do.

4.
Sensory Details: Develop a sense of 
imagery within the story using sensory-driven details. In other words, create a vivid story by helping the 
reader to see, hear, taste and touch just as the 
characters in your story do. Sensory details bring your readers into the story–into the experience you are sharing with them.

5.

Dialogue

: Use internal and/or external 
dialogue to connect the 
characters and help propel the story forward. 
Dialogue helps the writer to “show” rather than “tell” the story to the 
reader.  Tips for formatting 
dialogue can be found in Appendix C. 

6.
The 

Thesis
 (the message driving your story): Your story’s point or purpose should be structured as a 
thesis statement. And this statement should be underlined.  As the direction of your story must be made clear to the 
reader, it would naturally make sense that the point of your story or 
thesis appear somewhere within the first paragraph.   

Last modified: Friday, February 25, 2022, 1:58 PM