Apa Snippets and Style Writing Pointers to Help Tcl Nursing

APA Snippets and Style Writing Pointers to Help TCL Nursing Students Write Excellent Papers Datatel Number Technical College of the Lowcountry Course Number Abstract All papers should have an abstract. An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the paper, including the purpose and major findings. The abstract should be well organized, concise and specific. The abstract should be one paragraph of no more than 120 words on a page by itself. Other features of an abstract include double-spacing, one inch margins without indentation, and Times Roman or Courier 12 font.

APA Snippets and Style Writing Pointers to Help TCL Nursing Students Write Excellent Papers The aim of this article is to discuss the varieties of pain assessments, and to determine under which circumstances each assessment is most appropriate. Pain is rated differently by each patient, and is subjective to many factors in the patient’s life, including but not limited to culture and past experiences with pain. Since pain may have an effect on all aspects of a patient’s life, healthcare providers must strive to most properly identify the amount of pain in order to properly control it.

Symptoms such as “crying, elected temperature, facial grimacing, groaning, moaning, guarding of the affected area, loss of sleep, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, rise in blood pressure, rise in respiratory rate, and tachycardia” are typical indicators that a patient is in pain; but how much pain? Healthcare providers, namely nurses, use a system of scales and work with the patient to rate their pain. Nurses must be aware of the different pain rating scales available in order to most accurately assess a patient’s pain level.

A nurse must not only be able to determine which pain scale is most appropriate for the patient to identify and express his or her pain level, but also be able to carefully interpret and evaluate the scores. For example, the pain scale that is appropriate for a fully functioning adult will differ from one that is appropriate for a child and differ from one that is appropriate for a patient affected by dementia, etc. A variety of unidimensional scales quantify the intensity of the pain and are more simple; while multidimensional scales do so plus identify the pain quality, uration, and any relieving factors, and are more complex. If time permits, a nurse may choose to use a combination of pain assessments in order to be as thorough as possible. Nurses can implement the use of a variety of pain assessments reviewed in this article into their patient’s shift assessment. A nurse may choose to use a more complex, thorough multidimensional scale upon his or her patient’s admission assessment, and then use a more simple, quick unidimensional scale upon his or her patient’s regularly scheduled shift assessments.

Regardless of the type of scale being used, a nurse must always use “effective and sensitive communication with the patient to assist in expressions of pain. ” Nurses must listen to their patient and accurately document their patient’s subjective descriptions of the pain. Also, nurses should allow their patients ample amount of time to respond to their questions, which should also be open-ended questions. After the doctor has reviewed the pain assessment and ordered meds, the “effects of analgesia should be monitored closely and recorded in nursing notes to maintain continuity of patient care. In conclusion, nurses should assess the patient’s abilities, then choose and tailor the pain assessment to the patient’s needs. Assessments are of immeasurable importance as they have a direct effect on the patient’s quality of life. The more extensive of knowledge a nurse has of the plethora of pain assessments to choose from, the more he or she can also select the most appropriate pain scale per the patient, which in turn will have the greatest impact on the patient’s progress. Resources In the text, cite resources used to prepare the paper.

Cite references in parentheses at the end of the sentence, but before the period (Burckhalter, 2009). Give the author’s last name, a comma, and year of publication. When citing the same resource several times in the same paragraph, it is necessary to cite the author every time but the year only once (Burckhalter). Cite a page number only for quotes. For works by two authors, name both every time and use an ampersand (Merwin & Sapp, 2008). For works with three to five authors, name all in the first citation (Bible, Simmons, & Beasley, 2009). In later citations, cite only the first author’s name and the term et al. nd the year. For works of six or more authors, cite only the first author’s surname followed by et al. and year in the text, but identify all the authors in the reference list (Slyh et. al, 2007). When a group or organization is the author, cite the group’s name followed by the year (TCL Nursing Faculty, 2008). References Cite all resources used in the text. For the reference list, center the word “References” at the top of the last page. Double space the entries and indent all lines, except the first line of each entry, five to seven spaces. Alphabetize the list by the authors’ surnames.

Include only the initials and last name of authors, not full names or professional initials. Examples of citations are in the sample reference list with this paper. Note the examples of punctuation and capitalization. Journal citations capitalize only the first word of the article title. All major words in the title of the journal are capitalized. The name of the journal and the journal volume are italicized, but the issue and page numbers are not italicized. For books, the reference citation begins with the author or authors, followed by the date of publication. Only the first word of a book title is capitalized.

Book titles are italicized. The publisher’s location is cited by city and state, a colon, and the name of the publisher. Electronic citations use the same guidelines indicated above. Do not place a period at the end of an electronic address. Email sent from one to another should be cited as personal communication and is not included in the reference list. Information from classroom lectures are also personal communication (S. Beasley, April 14, 2009). Conclusion A paper should have a conclusion which restates the purpose of the paper, states the major points, and gives recommendations for practice and/or research.

This paper has presented suggestions for helping TCL nursing students write excellent papers. A student may also consider using this document as a foundation for a paper. The margins are set correctly. References American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed. ). Washington, DC: Author. Author, C. K. (2007, September 30). Title of a journal article. Imprint, 21, 35-40. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database. Benton Foundation. (1998, July 7). Barriers to closing the gap. In Losing ground bit by bit: Low-income communities in the information age (chap. ). Retrieved from HYPERLINK “http://www. Benton. org/Library/Low-Income/two. html” http://www. Benton. org/Library/Low-Income/two. html Bible, C. M. , Simmons, A. W. , & Beasley, S. G. (2009). Summer events at TCL. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(8), 89-96. Burckhalter, T. S. (February 2009). Beaufort’s best nursing students. Nurse Educator, 53, 46-65. McPheron, S. (2009). Mapping families. Imprint, 23(4), 14-27. Merwin, D. M. & Sapp, M. P. (2008). Where to find happiness. Journal of Divine Meditation, 38(5), 35-42. Simmons, A. (2007). Frustrations in nursing education.

In M. Sapp (Ed. ), Success for nursing students (pp. 13-29). Beaufort, SC: Technical College of the Lowcountry. Slyh, K. P, Merwin, D. M. , Sapp, M. L. , Bible, C. W. , Slachta, P. A. , & Simmons, A. W. (2007). What nursing students want. Journal of American Community Colleges, 26(3), 32-46. Nursing Faculty. Technical College of the Lowcountry nursing student handbook (2008). Beaufort, SC: Author. Thomas, C. L. (Ed. ). (2008). Taber’s cyclopedic medical dictionary (21st ed. ). Philadelphia: F. A. Davis. APA SNIPPETS AND STYLE WRITING PAGE * MERGEFORMAT 7 PAGE