NU580 Unit 4 DQ 1: Gordon's Functional Patterns
Listing the eleven patterns takes a paragraph. The graded question is the third one: what a pattern-based assessment does to the diagnosis that comes out the other end.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 16, 2026
Eleven patterns, and the third question is the hard one
Three questions, and their difficulty rises sharply. The first wants Gordon's focus areas, which are the eleven functional health patterns: health perception and health management, nutritional and metabolic, elimination, activity and exercise, sleep and rest, cognitive and perceptual, self-perception and self-concept, role and relationship, sexuality and reproductive, coping and stress tolerance, and values and beliefs. List them, but do not spend the post there. The second asks how nurses use them across the lifespan, and the useful observation is that the patterns stay constant while the questions inside them change completely. Elimination in an infant is toilet training readiness and stool frequency; in an older adult it is continence, medication side effects and the fall risk of a night-time bathroom trip. The framework is age neutral and its content is not, which is exactly why it works across a lifespan. It is also why the framework survives a change of setting: the same headings organise a home visit and an admission.
The third question is the one worth the marks. A functional pattern assessment changes the nursing diagnosis because it changes what gets noticed. A body systems review surfaces pathology and points toward medical diagnoses; a pattern review surfaces responses and function, which is the territory nursing diagnoses actually occupy. Work one example the whole way through. A patient reports poor sleep, which sits in sleep and rest, but the cause is anxiety about a new diagnosis, which sits in coping and stress tolerance, and the practical consequence is missed medication, which sits in health management. Three patterns, one problem, and the diagnosis you write depends on which you treat as primary. Say how you would decide, because that decision is the clinical reasoning the question is asking you to demonstrate. A marker is reading for that judgement rather than for the diagnosis itself, so show the alternatives you rejected and say briefly why.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Reproduce the eleven functional health patterns accurately.
- 02Show how pattern content changes with life stage while the framework does not.
- 03Explain why a functional assessment produces different findings from a systems review.
- 04Reason from overlapping patterns to a primary nursing diagnosis.
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. NU580-7B Unit 4 DQ 1 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
- 01The eleven patterns, named correctly.
- 02At least two life stages contrasted within the same pattern.
- 03An explanation of what a functional assessment surfaces that a systems review does not.
- 04One worked case where findings cross more than one pattern.
- 05A stated basis for choosing the primary diagnosis in that case.
List, then apply across ages, then link to diagnosis
The eleven functional health patterns
Name Gordon's focus areas accurately and attribute them.
The same pattern at different ages
Show how the questions inside a pattern change across life stages.
What a functional assessment surfaces
Contrast pattern-based assessment with a body systems review.
A case that crosses patterns
Work one patient scenario through several patterns.
From pattern to nursing diagnosis
Choose a primary diagnosis and justify the choice.
Sourcing the patterns and the diagnosis link
Recommended databases
- CINAHL
- NCBI Bookshelf
- PubMed Central
- Your programme's assessment textbook
Search sequence
- 1.Source the eleven patterns from a citable reference rather than a lecture slide.
- 2.Find one paper on functional versus systems-based assessment for the contrast section.
- 3.Look for a case study that crosses patterns, then adapt rather than invent one.
- 4.Check current nursing diagnosis terminology before naming a diagnosis.
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 Process
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
The nursing process, which is the sequence a functional assessment feeds into.
- 02
Orlando's Theory of the Deliberative Nursing Process
Nursology · 2024
A theory of how assessment findings become nursing action, supporting the diagnosis argument.
- 03
Falls and Fall Prevention in Older Adults
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2023
Falls in older adults — a worked example of findings crossing activity, cognition and elimination.
- 04
QSEN: Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes Associated With Evidence-Based Practice (Table 9.4)
Nursing Management and Professional Concepts, Chippewa Valley Technical College (NCBI Bookshelf) · 2022
The competencies a marker expects an assessment answer to demonstrate.
- 05
Social Determinants of Health
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion · 2024
Determinants that shape several patterns at once, which is why cases rarely sit in one.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Spending the whole post listing and defining the patterns.
- Treating 'across the lifespan' as a phrase to repeat rather than a contrast to draw.
- Confusing nursing diagnoses with medical diagnoses in the third section.
- Choosing an example that sits neatly in one pattern, so no reasoning is demonstrated.
Submission checklist
- Are all eleven patterns present and correctly named?
- Have you contrasted at least two age groups inside one pattern?
- Does your example cross patterns rather than sitting in one?
- Have you said how you chose the primary diagnosis?
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