NSG 6620 Week 10 DQ 2 model of care discussion guide
Describe the nurse leader's role in determining the model of care, describe one model with its pros and cons, examine the return on investment for patient quality and outcomes, and explain the human and financial resources implementation would require.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
Four questions, and the money one is real
Choose the model before writing anything, because the last three questions are all about the one you choose. Total patient care, functional nursing, team nursing, primary nursing and case management are the classic set, and modern variants such as relationship-based care or a nurse navigator model are acceptable if you can describe them precisely. Each trades the same things against each other: continuity against flexibility, skill mix against cost, autonomy against supervision. Primary nursing gives a patient one accountable nurse across an admission and produces strong continuity, but it needs a richer registered nurse skill mix and it strains when vacancies appear. Functional nursing is efficient with a thin skill mix and fragments the patient's experience into tasks. Say what your chosen model buys and what it costs, because pros and cons phrased as a general list will not connect to the resources question later.
The leader's role is the part most posts under-answer. It is not choosing a model from a textbook. It is reading the actual patient population and acuity, knowing the skill mix that is available rather than the one that would be ideal, modelling the cost, consulting the nurses who will work it, running it as a pilot on one unit, and being willing to reverse the decision. Then the return on investment question wants specifics: name what improves — length of stay, readmissions, falls, pressure injuries, patient experience scores, nurse turnover — and where the money comes from, since avoided turnover is often the largest recoverable cost in nursing. Finish with the resources, human and financial, and be honest that the human ones dominate: education hours, backfill during transition, and the temporary drop in productivity every model change produces before it produces anything else. State the pilot unit and the review date, because a model change without either is an announcement.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Describe recognised nursing care delivery models and what each trades off.
- 02Explain the nurse leader's role in matching a model to population and skill mix.
- 03Evaluate a model against continuity, cost and staff experience.
- 04Construct a return on investment argument from named outcome measures.
- 05Identify the human resource costs that dominate a care model transition.
Read the full question
Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS Discussion Questions (DQ) Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words. Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source. One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words. I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses. Weekly Participation Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately. In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies. Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work). Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week. APA Format and Writing Quality Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required). Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation. I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition. Use of Direct Quotes I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly. As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content. It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source. LopesWrite Policy For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me. Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes. Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own? Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score. Late Policy The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies. Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01An account of the nurse leader's role in determining the model of care.
- 02One named model of care, described precisely.
- 03Its advantages and disadvantages in this context.
- 04A return on investment argument with named measures.
- 05The human and financial resources implementation would need.
- 06Responses to at least two peers.
The leader's role, one model, the return, the resources
The population and the skill mix
Set out the acuity and staffing reality any model must fit.
The model, described
Explain how work is allocated and who is accountable for what.
What it buys and what it costs
Weigh continuity, flexibility, autonomy and cost against each other.
The return on investment
Name the measures expected to move and where savings arise.
Resources to implement
Set out education hours, backfill, and the transition productivity dip.
Evidence linking care models to outcomes
Recommended databases
- AHRQ Patient Safety Network
- StatPearls via NCBI Bookshelf
- CINAHL
- PubMed
- Your organisation's staffing and turnover data
Search sequence
- 1.Identify the model your unit currently uses before comparing anything.
- 2.Read evidence linking nurse staffing and care models to patient outcomes.
- 3.Find published turnover cost estimates for registered nurses.
- 4.Look for evaluations of the model you plan to describe, not only descriptions.
- 5.Choose the two outcome measures you will argue from, and check they are collected.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Nursing and Patient Safety
AHRQ Patient Safety Network · 2024
Evidence linking nurse staffing and work design to patient outcomes.
- 02
Nursing Shortage
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Background on skill mix and vacancy pressure, which constrains model choice.
- 03
Continuous Quality Improvement
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Supports running a model change as a measured pilot rather than a launch.
- 04
Nursing Process
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Baseline for what any delivery model has to keep intact at the bedside.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Describing several models briefly instead of one properly.
- Listing generic pros and cons that never connect to the resources question.
- Treating the leader's role as selection rather than as matching and piloting.
- Claiming return on investment without naming a measure that would move.
- Ignoring the productivity dip that accompanies any model change.
- Leaving nurse turnover out of the financial case, where it usually dominates.
Submission checklist
- One model is named and described in operational terms.
- Pros and cons are specific to this model and this setting.
- The leader's role includes assessing population, skill mix and cost.
- At least two outcome measures are named for the return argument.
- Human and financial resources are both quantified in kind.
- Two peer responses are posted.
Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.
Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
Reviewed by
Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.