Weight loss taken as a test of five hypotheses named after the chief complaint, each history line annotated with its target and the list shrinking as answers arrive. Searches like "nu 552 unit 2 assignment example", "nu552 unit 2 sample" and "nu552 unit 2 example" land here.
Seven Kilograms in Four Months: A Hypothesis-Driven History of Unintended Weight Loss in a 56-Year-Old Deckhand
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU552: Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning
Unit 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The patient is a composite built for the assignment; no real patient is described.
Identifying Data and Chief Complaint
Mr. [D.], 56, works as a deckhand on a car ferry, a job that is physically active, with twelve-hour shifts on alternating weeks. He came in because his work trousers no longer stayed up. "I've lost about seven kilos since the spring and I haven't been trying." He weighed [88] kg at a work physical five months ago and weighs [81] kg today, a loss of about 8 percent of his body weight.
A loss of more than 5 percent of body weight over six to twelve months without trying is generally considered clinically significant and warrants evaluation (Gaddey & Holder, 2014). His loss exceeds that threshold in a shorter time.
Starting Hypotheses
Before the present illness, five explanations were written down, chosen because they are among the common or dangerous causes of unintended weight loss in a man his age:
1. New diabetes mellitus.
2. Hyperthyroidism.
3. Cancer, of any site.
4. Depression.
5. A malabsorptive cause, such as celiac disease or pancreatic insufficiency.
Each question below is paired with the hypothesis it was aimed at. Questions that tested nothing are marked routine; the course expects a complete history, and some items are asked because a history is incomplete without them.
History of Present Illness
Q: How has your appetite been? A: "If anything, I'm hungrier than usual. I eat a full breakfast and still want lunch early." Tests: depression and most cancers, which usually reduce appetite. An increased appetite weakens both. It also points toward a condition in which calories are lost or burned rather than not eaten: diabetes, hyperthyroidism or malabsorption.
Q: Any change in how often you pass urine, day or night? A: "I'm up three times a night now. I used to sleep through." Tests: diabetes. Nocturia, if new, fits the osmotic diuresis of high blood glucose.
Q: Are you thirstier than usual? A: "I keep a big water bottle in the truck, and I refill it twice on a shift." Tests: diabetes. Thirst follows the water lost in urine. With increased appetite, nocturia and thirst, diabetes becomes the leading hypothesis.
Q: Have you noticed your heart racing, feeling hot when others are cold, or shaking hands? A: "No, none of that." Tests: hyperthyroidism. The absence of palpitations, heat intolerance and tremor weakens it considerably, though it does not exclude it in an older adult, where presentations can be subdued.
Q: What are your bowel movements like, and have they changed? A: "Normal. Once a day, formed. No grease, nothing floating." Tests: malabsorption. Formed stools without steatorrhea weaken it.
Q: Any pain anywhere, cough, blood in your stool or urine, or trouble swallowing? A: "No pain. A smoker's cough in the morning, same as it's been for years. No blood." Tests: cancer, by looking for a localizing symptom. None was found, but the chronic cough is noted for later.
Q: How has your mood been? Have you lost interest in things you usually enjoy? A: "I'm fine. A bit tired, but I'm still fishing on my days off." Tests: depression. Preserved interest weakens it further.
Q: Any blurred vision, infections that were slow to heal, or tingling in your feet? A: "My reading glasses don't seem to work as well lately." Tests: diabetes. Blurred vision from changes in lens hydration fits high glucose.
Updated Hypotheses After the Present Illness
1. New diabetes mellitus: leading. Increased appetite, nocturia, thirst and blurred vision all fit.
2. Cancer: lowered but not excluded. No localizing symptom, but see the social history.
3. Hyperthyroidism: lowered. No palpitations, heat intolerance or tremor.
4. Malabsorption: lowered. Formed stools, no steatorrhea.
5. Depression: lowest. Appetite increased, interest preserved.
The answer that did the most work was the nighttime urination, which moved diabetes from one candidate among five to the leading one.
Past Medical History and Medications
Q: Any conditions you've been treated for? A: "High blood pressure, on a pill for about six years. I was told my sugar was borderline once, a while back." Tests: diabetes. A prior borderline glucose, likely prediabetes, strengthens it further.
Q: What medications do you take? A: "Lisinopril, and ibuprofen when my back hurts." Routine, and also tests medication causes of weight loss, of which none is apparent.
Family History
Q: Anyone in your family with diabetes, thyroid problems or cancer? A: "My mother had sugar diabetes. My father had lung cancer at 70; he smoked." Tests: diabetes and cancer. A first-degree relative with type 2 diabetes raises his own risk. His father's lung cancer is noted, though it reflects his father's smoking at least as much as inheritance.
Social History
Q: Do you smoke, or have you ever? A: "A pack a day since I was 26. So thirty years." Tests: cancer. A [30] pack-year history is a substantial risk for lung, bladder and other cancers.
Q: Alcohol? A: "A few beers on the weekend." Routine, and also tests pancreatic causes, which moderate drinking makes less likely.
Q: Any changes at work or at home? A: "No, same as always." Routine, and also tests depression and food insecurity, neither suggested.
Review of Systems
Routine, and completed. Positive: nocturia, polydipsia, blurred near vision, chronic morning cough. Negative: fever, night sweats, hemoptysis, dysphagia, abdominal pain, change in stool, hematuria, palpitations, heat intolerance, tremor, low mood.
Final Hypotheses
1. New type 2 diabetes mellitus: leading. Polyuria, polydipsia, increased appetite, blurred vision, prior borderline glucose and a family history all support it.
2. Cancer, especially lung: kept on the list. No symptom points to it, and his appetite has risen. But in primary care studies, unexpected weight loss is associated with cancer across many sites, and the association is stronger in older men (Nicholson et al., 2018). With his age and 30 pack-years, an explanation for most findings does not by itself exclude a second condition, and missing a cancer would carry a high cost.
Hyperthyroidism, malabsorption and depression have fallen to the point where the examination and first tests, rather than further questions, will settle them.
What the Examination Must Look For
The history sets the examination's priorities. For diabetes: weight, blood pressure, a foot examination for sensation and skin, and a fundoscopic look if possible. For cancer: lymph nodes, especially supraclavicular; chest auscultation for focal findings; clubbing; and an abdominal examination for masses or an enlarged liver. For the thyroid: a pulse, the thyroid gland itself and reflexes. The first tests would follow: a glucose and hemoglobin A1c, which the American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee (2025) recognizes for diagnosis; electrolytes and renal function; a blood count; thyroid-stimulating hormone; and, given his smoking history, a discussion of chest imaging and lung cancer screening eligibility.
References
American Diabetes Association Professional Practice Committee. (2025). Standards of care in diabetes 2025. Diabetes Care, 48(Suppl. 1), S1-S352. https://diabetesjournals.org/care
Gaddey, H. L., & Holder, K. (2014). Unintentional weight loss in older adults. American Family Physician, 89(9), 718-722.
Nicholson, B. D., Hamilton, W., O'Sullivan, J., Aveyard, P., & Hobbs, F. D. R. (2018). Weight loss as a predictor of cancer in primary care: A systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of General Practice, 68(670), e311-e322. https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp18X695801
How this NU552 Unit 2 example is structured
The history is written as a record of decisions. Each question appears with its answer and, in the margin, the hypothesis it was aimed at raising or lowering. Updated boxes at three points show the list changing, making visible which answer did the most work: the nighttime urination, which moved diabetes from one candidate among five to the leading one. Standard sections remain, since the course expects a complete history, but the order within the present illness follows the reasoning rather than a mnemonic. Questions that tested nothing are marked routine. Cancer stays on the final list, and one sentence explains why: given his age and smoking history, an explanation for most findings does not by itself exclude a second condition. The closing box names what the examination must look for.
Get an NU552 Unit 2 example written to your instructions
Attach the NU552 Unit 2 scenario, the history layout your section requires and the rubric. Hypotheses come stated after the chief complaint, with every line of questioning marked by the explanation it tests; a first history built that way is free, follows your instructions and is back 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.
NU552 Unit 2 questions, answered
How many hypotheses should the starting list hold?
Often three to six. Fewer suggests the complaint was matched to a single diagnosis too quickly; many more makes the annotation unwieldy. The sample begins with five because unintentional weight loss has several well-known families of cause, and each one can be tested by a distinct line of questioning in the history.
Does the history still need every standard section?
In most sections, yes. The reasoning format adds annotation; it does not replace completeness. The sample keeps past, family and social history plus the systems review, and labels the routine questions honestly. Your instructor's template decides the sections, and the sample adopts it while keeping the hypothesis margins throughout.
Can the history include a physical exam?
Not in the sample, because Unit 2 prompts typically stop at history. It closes instead with a box naming what the examination should look for, a thyroid check and signs of dehydration among them. If your prompt asks for both, the exam can follow with each maneuver linked to a remaining hypothesis.