NU333 Unit 3 integumentary assessment note example

Reviewed by Elspeth Marlowe, MSN, RN Health Assessment for the Nursing Professional Purdue University Global Free custom sample in 24 to 48h

This page holds a complete NU333 Unit 3 integumentary assessment note example in true form. Found on her kitchen floor after about 18 hours, a composite 77-year-old woman has a stage 2 pressure injury over the left hip and an intact but maroon, boggy heel; the note stages only what the staging system allows, lists every Braden subscale, and describes a mole her daughter says has changed without diagnosing it. Most sections set this unit as an integumentary assessment note.

What this page holds

Skin, hair and nails of a composite woman in her seventies, NU333 Unit 3: one staged pressure injury, one deep tissue injury described exactly, one changing mole recorded by ABCDE. Searches like "nu 333 unit 3 assignment example", "nu333 unit 3 sample" and "nu333 unit 3 example" land here.

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Integumentary Assessment Note: A Stage 2 Hip Injury, a Deep Tissue Heel Injury and a Changing Mole

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

NU333: Health Assessment for the Nursing Professional

Unit 3 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Composite patient written as a model document. Measurements are composite.

What this part is doingThe title lists the three findings in the order the note documents them. A reader knows from it that the note covers risk, wounds and a lesion.
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General Skin Findings

Color: pale, without cyanosis or jaundice. Temperature: cool to the touch on the extremities, warm centrally. Moisture: dry. Turgor: tested over the clavicle, returns slowly, in about two seconds. Edema: none.

Braden Scale

The Braden Scale scores six subscales of pressure injury risk (Bergstrom et al., 1987):

Sensory perception: 3, slightly limited.

Moisture: 3, occasionally moist.

Activity: 2, chairfast since admission.

Mobility: 2, very limited.

Nutrition: 2, probably inadequate.

Friction and shear: 1, a problem; she slides down in bed.

Total: 13, moderate risk. Listing each subscale shows where the risk lies: mobility, activity, nutrition and friction, each of which can be matched to care.

Left Hip Wound

Location: left greater trochanter. Stage: stage 2 pressure injury, partial-thickness skin loss with exposed dermis. Size: 3.2 cm length (head to toe) by 2.1 cm width, depth 0.2 cm. Wound bed: pink, moist, no slough or eschar. Edges: distinct, attached. Periwound: intact, mildly reddened, blanching. Drainage: small, serous, no odor.

Right Heel

Intact skin with a 4 by 3 cm area of persistent maroon discoloration, boggy to the touch and cooler than the surrounding tissue. Labeled a deep tissue pressure injury, the term the National Pressure Injury Advisory Panel adopted in 2016 for localized damage beneath skin that is still intact but discolored and does not blanch (Edsberg et al., 2016). The note describes the heel exactly and does not guess how far the damage runs, because deep tissue injury may evolve over the following days.

What this part is doingEach wound follows the same order: location, stage, measurements, bed, edges, periwound and drainage. Two nurses measuring on different days can then compare.
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Pigmented Lesion

Location: upper back, left of the midline. Described with the ABCDE criteria (Abbasi et al., 2004): asymmetric; irregular border; two shades of brown; 7 mm in diameter; reported by her daughter as larger over the past year. Described, not diagnosed.

Hair and Nails

Hair thin and evenly distributed. Nails pale pink, without clubbing; toenails thickened.

Reported

The stage 2 hip injury, the deep tissue heel injury, the Braden score and the changing mole were reported to the provider, with a request for wound care consultation and a dermatology referral for the lesion. Heels were offloaded with a pillow under the calves, and a turning schedule was started. Staging will follow current rules, including no reverse staging as the hip wound heals: a healing stage 2 injury is documented as a healing stage 2, not as a lower stage.

What this part is doingThe reporting paragraph links each finding to an action. The mole is sent for evaluation rather than labeled.
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References

Abbasi, N. R., Shaw, H. M., Rigel, D. S., Friedman, R. J., McCarthy, W. H., Osman, I., Kopf, A. W., & Polsky, D. (2004). Early diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma: Revisiting the ABCD criteria. JAMA, 292(22), 2771-2776. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.292.22.2771

Bergstrom, N., Braden, B. J., Laguzza, A., & Holman, V. (1987). The Braden Scale for predicting pressure sore risk. Nursing Research, 36(4), 205-210. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-198707000-00002

Edsberg, L. E., Black, J. M., Goldberg, M., McNichol, L., Moore, L., & Sieggreen, M. (2016). Revised National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel pressure injury staging system. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, 43(6), 585-597. https://doi.org/10.1097/WON.0000000000000281

How this NU333 Unit 3 example is structured

Description precedes interpretation throughout, and the note uses the vocabulary that wound staging and dermatology share. General skin findings come first because they set the baseline against which each lesion is read. Each wound follows the same order, location, stage, measurements, bed, edges, periwound and drainage, so two nurses measuring on different days can compare. Measurements follow the usual convention, length along the head-to-toe axis, width across it, depth in centimeters. The heel shows the note's restraint: intact discolored skin is described exactly and given the deep tissue term, without guessing how far the damage runs. Staging language follows current rules, including no reverse staging as wounds heal. The mole is described, not diagnosed, and the note records that it was reported for provider evaluation. Braden subscores are listed individually so the risk they reveal can be matched to care.

Get an NU333 Unit 3 example written to your instructions

Wound documentation formats vary by facility and by course template, so the template decides much of the layout. Attach the Unit 3 assignment and rubric along with whatever wound form is in use; the composite note comes back staged in NPIAP terms, measured in centimeters and described in dermatologic vocabulary. First custom sample free, returned in 24-48h. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.

NU333 Unit 3 questions, answered

What is the Braden Scale?

A pressure injury risk tool with six subscales: sensory perception, skin moisture, activity level, mobility, nutrition, and friction and shear. Five subscales score one to four and friction and shear scores one to three, for totals from 6 to 23. Lower totals mean higher risk; 18 or below is a common threshold for prevention, and 13 to 14 is often called moderate risk.

Why can't a deep tissue pressure injury be staged?

Because the extent of damage under intact or discolored skin cannot be seen. The NPIAP system gives it a category of its own, and the area may evolve into a full-thickness wound or resolve. Writing it as a stage 1 or 2 understates the risk. Document the color, size, temperature and texture exactly, and reassess regularly.

What does ABCDE stand for in skin assessment?

Asymmetry, border irregularity, color variation, diameter, commonly a concern above 6 millimeters, and evolving, meaning change in size, shape, color or symptoms. It is a screening aid for pigmented lesions that may need evaluation for melanoma. In a nursing note, each letter is recorded as a finding, and the lesion is reported rather than diagnosed.