Ineffective airway clearance after abdominal surgery is the single problem in this NU140 Unit 3 care plan, set out in five linked columns from cues to an evaluation line. Searches like "nu 140 unit 3 assignment example", "nu140 unit 3 sample" and "nu140 unit 3 example" land here.
What a finished NU140 Unit 3 care plan looks like
The plan is a five-column table on one page, with a short paragraph of patient background above it. The data column separates subjective cues, the patient reporting that coughing hurts too much to try, from objective ones: coarse crackles in both lower lobes, a weak unproductive cough, oxygen saturation of 91 percent on room air, and a respiratory rate of 24. The diagnosis appears as a three-part statement, related to incisional pain and retained secretions, as evidenced by those findings. The goal sets a saturation of at least 94 percent on room air and clear lower lobes within forty-eight hours. Interventions include splinting the incision with a pillow before coughing, incentive spirometry ten times an hour while awake, analgesia timed ahead of deep breathing, and walking in the hall twice a shift.
How a NU140 Unit 3 example is structured
Most Unit 3 templates run left to right in the order of the nursing process, and the sample follows that order column by column. Assessment data comes first and stays free of interpretation. The diagnosis column holds one statement in problem, etiology and signs format, with the etiology chosen as something nursing can change, pain and immobility rather than the surgery itself. The goal column holds one long-term outcome and, where the template asks, a short-term one for the end of the shift. Interventions are numbered and each is matched on the same row to a rationale with a citation. The evaluation column is written as though the time frame has passed, stating met, partly met or not met, the evidence for that judgment, and the revision that would follow. A reference list in the required style closes the page.
An etiology nursing can act on
Incisional pain and shallow breathing are etiologies a nurse can treat; the operation is not. The plan links the diagnosis to the first two, which is what makes every intervention below it logical instead of arbitrary.
Cues sorted before they are used
Crackles, cough strength, saturation and rate are listed as findings, and the patient's own words sit in their own row. None of them is interpreted in the data column, so the diagnosis visibly rests on evidence a reader can check.
Pain control as an airway intervention
A first plan often leaves analgesia to the medication record. This one treats timed pain relief as a respiratory intervention, because a patient who fears the pain of coughing will not clear secretions, and the rationale says so directly.
Numbers taken from the scenario
The target saturation and the forty-eight-hour window come from the case data and from common post-operative expectations, not from nowhere. A goal built on a figure the scenario never mentioned is exactly what the evaluation column cannot test.
An evaluation that revises
The sample writes the outcome as partly met, with saturation improved but crackles persisting at one base, and adds a revision: more frequent ambulation and a note to report findings. Plans that always end fully met look invented.
Where marks go in NU140 Unit 3
The most expensive error in a first care plan is a diagnosis whose related factor is the medical diagnosis, 'related to abdominal surgery,' which names something no nursing action can change. Goals that are nurse tasks, 'teach coughing and deep breathing,' rather than patient outcomes, are the next loss, followed by goals with no measure or time frame. Rationales that paraphrase the action beside them, or that cite nothing, cost points on almost every row. Assessment columns carrying conclusions such as 'poor airway clearance' instead of the findings behind them lose credit because the diagnosis now rests on itself. Interventions a student nurse could not perform, such as ordering a chest radiograph, are marked as outside scope. An evaluation column left blank, or filled with 'goal met' and no evidence, removes the last phase entirely.
Get a NU140 Unit 3 example written to your instructions
Three things let the plan match your section: the Unit 3 scenario, the column template and the rubric. Mention any approved diagnosis list as well, since the wording follows it. A first custom sample costs nothing and is typically ready in 24-48h, built on that scenario's data rather than on the airway case above.
NU140 Unit 3 questions, answered
Why only one problem in the first plan?
Because each column is being graded for form as much as content. With one problem, a reader can see whether the data supports the diagnosis, whether the goal is measurable, and whether each rationale explains its action. Later plans add problems and ask for prioritization, which only works once the single-problem structure is secure.
Can I use a risk diagnosis instead?
If the prompt allows it. A risk diagnosis has no signs and symptoms, because the problem has not happened, so its statement lists risk factors instead of evidence. That two-part form is simpler, which is why some instructors prefer an actual problem for the first plan. Check your template; the sample follows whichever format your section uses.
How many interventions should the plan have?
Four to six is common for one problem, though the template decides. More matters less than fit: each intervention should target the etiology named in the diagnosis, and each needs its own rationale. A long list of generic actions, such as monitor vital signs, dilutes the plan and usually draws a comment that the interventions are not individualized.