Spoken in three timed minutes, NU585's Unit 4 script opens on function and a daughter's goal, then builds to one request: a gradual quetiapine reduction for a composite resident. Searches like "nu 585 unit 4 assignment example", "nu585 unit 4 sample" and "nu585 unit 4 example" land here.
Three Minutes, One Request: A Case Presentation Script Asking to Taper an Antipsychotic Started During a Hospital Delirium
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU585: AGNP II Clinical - Frail Elderly Focus
Unit 4 Case Presentation Script
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The resident is a composite; doses, dates and counts are bracketed, and the timing marks are for spoken delivery.
The Script
[0:00] Mr. [H.] is an 85-year-old long-stay resident with moderate Alzheimer disease. He walks the hall with a rolling walker and feeds himself. His daughter's goal for him is that he stays calm enough to enjoy the Thursday music group and stays out of the hospital.
[0:25] I am asking for your agreement today to begin tapering his quetiapine.
[0:40] Here is the history. He was started on quetiapine, 25 milligrams twice a day, for agitation during a hospital stay for pneumonia six weeks ago. He was delirious then. The transfer orders continued it, and no one has reviewed it since.
[1:00] Since he came back, the behavior log shows about two evenings a week of pacing in the hallway after dinner. When staff looked into it, the pacing often came when he needed the bathroom, and once when his hearing aid battery had died. Walking him to the bathroom at seven and checking his hearing aid have settled most evenings. He has not hit or shouted at anyone.
[1:30] Three weeks ago he fell in the evening. He was not hurt, but sedation from the quetiapine may have played a part.
[1:45] Why taper now. The delirium it was started for has resolved. Antipsychotics carry a boxed warning for increased mortality in older adults with dementia, and they add fall risk. Federal rules require gradual dose reduction attempts for residents on antipsychotics unless it is clinically contraindicated.
[2:05] My plan is to cut the evening dose in half for two weeks, then stop the morning dose, then stop. Staff will keep the behavior log, and I will review it weekly.
[2:15] (Pause for questions.)
[2:30] His other conditions are stable: hypertension, osteoarthritis and mild hypothyroidism.
[2:50] The decision I need today is your agreement to begin the taper this week, and permission to call his daughter this afternoon to explain it.
Why the Script Is Built This Way
Problems are ordered by their weight in the decision, not by organ system: the psychotropic first, the fall second, the other diagnoses last. A listener who knows what is being asked in the first minute can weigh every later sentence against it.
The behavior paragraph follows the DICE approach, which asks the clinician to describe the behavior, investigate its causes, create a plan with nondrug responses first, and evaluate the result (Kales et al., 2014). The script names what the pacing looks like, what was checked, and which nondrug responses already work, so the listener can see that the drug is doing little.
The risk paragraph cites two authorities briefly. The American Psychiatric Association's guideline advises that antipsychotics for agitation in dementia be tapered and withdrawn within four months when there is no clear, continued benefit (Reus et al., 2016), and federal nursing facility rules require gradual dose reduction attempts for psychotropic drugs (42 C.F.R. § 483.45, 2024). A Cochrane review found that many people with dementia can stop long-term antipsychotics without worsening behavior (Van Leeuwen et al., 2018).
Each sentence fits in a single breath when spoken, and numbers are rounded for the ear.
References
42 C.F.R. § 483.45 (2024). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-42/section-483.45
Kales, H. C., Gitlin, L. N., & Lyketsos, C. G. (2014). Management of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia in clinical settings: Recommendations from a multidisciplinary expert panel. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 62(4), 762-769. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12730
Reus, V. I., Fochtmann, L. J., Eyler, A. E., Hilty, D. M., Horvitz-Lennon, M., Jibson, M. D., Lopez, O. L., Mahoney, J., Pasic, J., Tan, Z. S., Wills, C. D., Rhoads, R., & Yager, J. (2016). The American Psychiatric Association practice guideline on the use of antipsychotics to treat agitation or psychosis in patients with dementia. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(5), 543-546. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2015.173501
Van Leeuwen, E., Petrovic, M., van Driel, M. L., De Sutter, A. I. M., Vander Stichele, R., Declercq, T., & Christiaens, T. (2018). Withdrawal versus continuation of long-term antipsychotic drug use for behavioural and psychological symptoms in older people with dementia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2018(3), Article CD007726. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD007726.pub3
How this NU585 Unit 4 example is structured
The script is built around the listener's first question, what does this person need from me, so the request arrives inside the first minute and everything after supports it. Problems are ordered by their weight in the decision at hand rather than by organ system: the psychotropic first, his fall three weeks ago second because sedation may have contributed, and his other diagnoses compressed into one sentence. Behavior is described through the DICE approach (Kales, Gitlin and Lyketsos, 2014), naming what the pacing looks like, what was checked, from pain to a dead hearing aid battery, and which nondrug responses already work. The risk paragraph cites the boxed warning on antipsychotic use in older adults with dementia and the federal requirement for gradual dose reduction attempts. Sentences stay short enough to say in one breath, and numbers are rounded for the ear.
Get an NU585 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
What does your Unit 4 case ask the listener to decide? Share that, the time limit your section sets and the case details, plus the rubric. Timed and written for speaking, the script opens with function and goals and builds to that single decision, with drugs bracketed. Expect it within 24-48h, and the first one is free. 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.
NU585 Unit 4 questions, answered
How many words fit in a three-minute case presentation?
Roughly three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty spoken words, depending on pace and pauses. That limit forces choices, which is the point of the assignment. Read the script aloud with a timer before submitting and adjust. Elapsed-time stamps beside each paragraph, as the sample uses, show a grader that the length was tested rather than estimated.
Should a frail-elder presentation still include the full problem list?
Usually in compressed form. Name the conditions that shape the current decision in full and group the rest into one sentence, such as stable heart failure and hypothyroidism on long-standing regimens. The written version can attach a complete list as an appendix if the rubric wants one. Leading with every diagnosis spends the listener's attention before the point arrives.
What is the DICE approach?
A structured method for behavioral symptoms of dementia described by Kales, Gitlin and Lyketsos in 2014: Describe the behavior precisely, Investigate possible causes such as pain, infection, sleep or environment, Create a plan that starts with nondrug responses, and Evaluate whether it worked. It suits presentations because it turns a vague label into observable facts a listener can weigh.