Age band, control assessment and a chosen step, with GINA and the 2020 NAEPP Focused Updates compared where they disagree, shape NU568's Unit 7 plan, written around a composite 5-year-old. Searches like "nu 568 unit 7 assignment example", "nu568 unit 7 sample" and "nu568 unit 7 example" land here.
Five Years Old and on the Line Between Two Age Tables: A Stepwise Asthma Plan Written With GINA and NAEPP Open
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU568: FNP I - Primary Care Across the Lifespan
Unit 7 Stepwise Asthma Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The child is a composite; values, doses and dates are bracketed composite values.
1. Assessment of Control
[Zoe], 5, started kindergarten this fall. Over the past four weeks she has coughed or wheezed on about three days in seven, woken at night with cough [three] times a month, and needed her [albuterol] inhaler on the same days. She slows down and stops to cough during recess. With each cold she wheezes for several days; she has had [two] such flares this year, one needing oral corticosteroids. Her growth is normal. She has eczema, and her father has asthma.
In GINA's terms, for children 5 years and younger, the four symptom-control questions over the past four weeks are: daytime symptoms for more than a few minutes more than once a week, yes; activity limitation, yes; reliever needed more than once a week, yes; night waking or coughing, yes. Four of four: uncontrolled (Global Initiative for Asthma, 2024).
In NAEPP's terms, for children 5 to 11, impairment: symptoms more than two days a week but not daily; night waking three to four times a month; reliever more than two days a week; minor limitation of activity. Risk: two exacerbations in a year, one requiring oral corticosteroids. That profile classifies her asthma as mild persistent, which calls for a step 2 treatment (National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, 2007).
2. Where the Documents Differ for Her
1. Age table. GINA's youngest group is children 5 years and younger, so at 5 she is in it. NAEPP's middle band is ages 5 to 11, so at 5 she enters it.
2. Assessment framework. GINA uses four symptom-control questions and a separate risk review. NAEPP uses impairment and risk domains and, at first assessment, classifies severity before treatment.
3. Available steps. GINA's youngest group does not include as-needed inhaled corticosteroid-formoterol, which it offers to older children. NAEPP's 2020 update addressed six topics only, among them intermittent inhaled corticosteroids and single maintenance and reliever therapy, and left the rest of its step recommendations to the 2007 Expert Panel Report 3 (Cloutier et al., 2020).
The age table decides which steps are even available, so the plan settles which table applies before it chooses a step.
3. The Step Chosen
Both documents land on the same treatment for her. GINA's step 2 for children 5 and younger, for uncontrolled symptoms or frequent wheezing episodes, prefers a daily low-dose inhaled corticosteroid (Global Initiative for Asthma, 2024). NAEPP's step 2 for ages 5 to 11 prefers a daily low-dose inhaled corticosteroid, with a leukotriene receptor antagonist as an alternative (National Asthma Education and Prevention Program, 2007).
Order: [fluticasone] [composite low dose] by metered-dose inhaler with a spacer, twice daily, every day. [Albuterol] [composite dose] by spacer as needed for symptoms. [Montelukast] is not chosen first, because it is less effective than an inhaled corticosteroid and carries a boxed warning about neuropsychiatric effects, which matters for a child whose behavior her teacher will be watching.
4. Device Technique
At 5, she can often use a spacer with a mouthpiece rather than a mask, taking several slow breaths after each puff. She is shown in the office and asked to demonstrate. A mask remains an option if she cannot seal her lips around the mouthpiece. Technique is the first thing checked before any step up, because poor technique is a common reason a controller seems to fail. Her parents are shown how to clean the spacer and how to count doses.
5. Action Plan for Home and School
Green zone, doing well: no cough or wheeze, sleeping through the night, playing normally. Give [fluticasone] twice a day. Use [albuterol] before hard exercise if needed.
Yellow zone, getting worse: cough, wheeze, a tight chest, waking at night, or a cold starting. Give [albuterol] [2 to 4] puffs every [4] hours as needed. Keep giving [fluticasone]. Call the clinic if she needs [albuterol] for more than 24 hours or it is not helping.
Red zone, emergency: breathing hard and fast, the skin between her ribs pulling in, trouble talking, lips or nails turning blue, or [albuterol] not helping within 15 minutes. Give [albuterol] and call 911.
A copy goes to her school nurse and teacher with a medication authorization form, so she can use [albuterol] at school.
6. Review
Review in [four to six] weeks: symptoms, night waking, reliever use, technique and adherence. If control is not achieved despite good technique and adherence, step up: GINA would double the inhaled corticosteroid dose for her age group, and NAEPP would move to a medium-dose inhaled corticosteroid. Once she has been well controlled for [three] months, consider stepping down to the lowest dose that maintains control. Her influenza vaccine is given today. Triggers are reviewed at the same visit: tobacco smoke exposure in the home or car, the family cat, and dust in her bedroom, each with one practical step her parents chose to try before the review.
References
Cloutier, M. M., Baptist, A. P., Blake, K. V., Brooks, E. G., Bryant-Stephens, T., DiMango, E., Dixon, A. E., Elward, K. S., Hartert, T., Krishnan, J. A., Lemanske, R. F., Ouellette, D. R., Pace, W. D., Schatz, M., Skolnik, N. S., Stout, J. W., Teach, S. J., Umscheid, C. A., & Walsh, C. G. (2020). 2020 focused updates to the asthma management guidelines: A report from the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Coordinating Committee Expert Panel Working Group. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 146(6), 1217-1270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaci.2020.10.003
Global Initiative for Asthma. (2024). Global strategy for asthma management and prevention (2024 update). https://ginasthma.org
National Asthma Education and Prevention Program. (2007). Expert panel report 3: Guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
How this NU568 Unit 7 example is structured
Assessment comes before any step, and the plan argues from control rather than from diagnosis alone. The comparison box sits between assessment and treatment because the age table decides which steps are even available. The treatment section names the step in each document's numbering, explains why both land on a daily controller for her, and notes that the NAEPP 2020 update addressed six topics only, leaving the rest to the 2007 Expert Panel Report 3 it updated. GINA is cited by the year of its annual edition. Device technique gets its own paragraph, because a mask at five may soon be traded for a mouthpiece, and technique failure is the first thing checked before any step up. Review is set at one to three months, with a stated condition for stepping up and a period of good control before stepping down.
Get an NU568 Unit 7 example written to your instructions
Stepwise asthma plans in NU568 may center on a toddler, a school-age child or a teenager, and the age band changes everything that follows. Pass along the asthma scenario for Unit 7, its symptom pattern and the patient's age included, name the guideline your section prefers and attach the rubric. A sample plan returns in 24-48h, the first at no charge. 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.
NU568 Unit 7 questions, answered
Should the plan follow GINA or NAEPP?
Whichever your section names. Where the prompt leaves it open, many US courses use NAEPP and cite GINA as a comparison, since GINA is international and revised yearly. Either is defensible if you state which one you applied and why. What costs marks is blending the two, taking an age band from one document and a step from the other.
Is spirometry expected for a child this young?
Some five-year-olds can perform it reliably, many cannot, and both documents treat it cautiously at this age. A plan can note whether spirometry was attempted and what it showed, bracketed, while basing control mainly on symptoms and exacerbation history. For older children in later cases, spirometry usually carries more weight in the assessment of control.
How detailed should the action plan be?
Detailed enough for a caregiver to act without calling first in the green and yellow zones. Each zone should say what the adult will notice, what medicine to give, bracketed, and when to seek help. Many courses accept a standard template, such as one from a national asthma organization, adapted with the details of the case.