| Course | NU710 Advanced Health Information and Technologies |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 6 |
| Paper type | Cyberattack and downtime response plan |
| Length | About 1,090 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NU710 Unit 6
When the Record Goes Dark at 0300: A Unit 6 Cyberattack and Downtime Response Plan for Insulin Care on Two Medical-Surgical Units
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
NU710: Advanced Health Information and Technologies
Unit 6 Cyberattack and Downtime Response Plan
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The hospital, its systems, drills and figures are composite and illustrative; the studies cited are real.
Why Plan for This
Cyberattacks on hospitals are no longer rare events. Javaid et al. (2023) describe how attackers who reach a hospital network may install ransomware that locks essential services or encrypts files until a ransom is paid, and note that connected devices themselves can be targets. The effects spread beyond the hospital attacked. When a ransomware attack took four hospitals in one San Diego system offline for about a month in 2021, the two academic emergency departments next door absorbed roughly 33 extra patients a day on average, along with more ambulance traffic and more people walking out before being seen (Dameff et al., 2023). A regional hospital like this one would feel both kinds of effect: its own downtime if attacked, and a surge if a neighbor were.
Marler et al. (2026), writing for nurse executives, argue that nursing leaders need formal plans for responding to a cyberattack, recovery plans, downtime procedures, planned drills and cybersecurity education for leaders and staff. The hospital has a general downtime policy written for planned maintenance of four hours or less. It assumes the record will return by the next shift. A ransomware attack may last weeks.
The Insulin Process Today and What Fails
On the two units, insulin care depends on five connected steps. Glucose meters upload readings to the record when docked. The medication administration record shows scheduled and correction doses, calculated from the meter result. Barcode scanning confirms the patient, the pen and the dose. Pharmacy verifies orders and dispenses pens electronically. At discharge, the bundle's report lists patients due for the 72-hour contact.
In a full outage, every step fails. Meter results stay on the meters. The record cannot be read. Scanners show errors. Pharmacy cannot see new orders. The call list does not print. Nurses on night shift would be calculating correction doses from memory of the scale.
The danger in a downtime is not the missing screen; it is the dose calculated from a scale nobody can see.
Before an Attack: Preparation
1. Downtime reports every four hours. The record will print, to a protected local printer on each unit, a downtime report every four hours listing each patient's active insulin orders, correction scales, last five glucose readings and allergies. These are the documents nurses will work from in the first day.
2. Paper insulin flow sheets. A one-page form combining the medication record and glucose log for one patient for 24 hours, with the correction scale printed on it, stored in a downtime box on each unit.
3. Daily discharge call list on paper. The bundle's call list will print each morning, so that follow-up for recently discharged patients does not disappear.
4. Meter memory. Glucose meters hold several hundred readings. Staff will be taught to retrieve a patient's readings from the meter's memory screen.
5. Drills. Twice a year, each unit will run a two-hour downtime drill on a night shift, including at least one insulin dose calculated and documented on paper.
The First Hour
When the hospital declares a downtime, the charge nurse on each unit:
1. Opens the downtime box and distributes insulin flow sheets.
2. Pulls the most recent downtime report and confirms each patient's insulin orders with the paper report.
3. Assigns one nurse to call pharmacy for the process for urgent orders, which during downtime will be faxed or hand-carried.
4. Holds any non-urgent new insulin starts until a provider and pharmacist can confirm the order on paper.
5. Reports to the house supervisor which patients are on insulin infusions or high-dose correction scales, so that staffing can be adjusted.
Insulin Administration During Downtime
During downtime, a second nurse checks every insulin dose independently, confirming the glucose reading, the scale, the calculated dose and the patient's two identifiers, since barcode scanning is unavailable. Doses and readings are recorded on the flow sheet at the bedside, not batched later. Pens are labeled with the patient's name by hand when dispensed.
For patients starting insulin during downtime, the bundle's discharge steps continue on paper. The return demonstration is documented on the flow sheet, the written plan is the printed downtime version and the pen is dispensed by pharmacy on a paper order. The 72-hour contact is logged on the paper call list.
Communication
The hospital's incident command center will run communication. Units will receive updates on paper or by overhead page every two hours. Staff will not use personal messaging apps for patient information. Patients and families will be told plainly that systems are down and that care continues on paper.
A Surge From a Neighbor
If a neighboring hospital is attacked, this hospital may see a surge similar to what San Diego's emergency departments saw. The plan includes a trigger: if emergency census rises by more than 15 percent for two consecutive days during a regional attack, the house supervisor will open the surge plan and the diabetes educator will help units manage the extra patients on insulin.
Recovery
When systems return, the work is not finished. Every paper flow sheet must be entered into the record or scanned, with a second nurse confirming entry of insulin doses. Glucose meters will be docked to upload stored readings. Pharmacy will reconcile paper orders. The bundle's analyst will rebuild the call list and contact any patient discharged during the downtime who missed a call. A debrief within two weeks will record what failed and update this plan.
Measures
Readiness will be measured by drill completion on both units, the share of staff able to complete a paper insulin dose correctly during drills and the time from downtime declaration to distribution of flow sheets. After any real downtime, the debrief will review insulin errors, hypoglycemia below 70 mg/dL and missed follow-up contacts.
Conclusion
A ransomware attack would strip away every safeguard nurses rely on for insulin at once. Printed reports, paper flow sheets with the correction scale, double checks where scanning is missing, a paper call list, regular night-shift drills and a careful recovery would let the two units keep giving insulin safely and keep following up patients who have gone home, for as long as the outage lasts.
References
Dameff, C., Tully, J., Chan, T. C., Castillo, E. M., Savage, S., Maysent, P., Hemmen, T. M., Clay, B. J., & Longhurst, C. A. (2023). Ransomware attack associated with disruptions at adjacent emergency departments in the US. JAMA Network Open, 6(5), e2312270. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.12270
Javaid, M., Haleem, A., Singh, R. P., & Suman, R. (2023). Towards insighting cybersecurity for healthcare domains: A comprehensive review of recent practices and trends. Cyber Security and Applications, 1, 100016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csa.2023.100016
Marler, R., Sherer, M., Thompson, K., & Hutti, M. H. (2026). Strategic guidelines for responding to a healthcare cyber-attack. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 56(1), 9-13. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001667
The Purdue Global NU710 Unit 6 instructions
The cybersecurity unit asks students to plan for a technology failure that would affect patient care, usually a cyberattack or prolonged system downtime. Prompts typically want the threat described, the systems at risk identified, the care processes most affected analyzed and a plan written for before, during and after the event. Instructors favor plans that focus on the highest-risk processes, such as insulin or anticoagulation, rather than generic downtime advice. Roles, communication, paper workflows and recovery are expected sections. Evidence on how attacks affect hospitals and nearby facilities adds weight. A plan should also say how readiness will be measured, since a downtime box nobody has opened in a drill is unlikely to work at 0300. Sources from nursing leadership literature are a good fit here.
How this NU710 Unit 6 example is built
The plan opens with why attacks matter, drawing on Javaid's review, Dameff's study of neighboring emergency departments and Marler's guidance, and notes that the current policy assumes a short outage. It walks through the five connected steps of insulin care and how each fails, under a highlighted line about doses calculated from a scale nobody can see, with a margin note. Preparation comes next: four-hourly printed reports, paper flow sheets with the scale, a paper call list, meter memory and night-shift drills. Numbered first-hour steps for the charge nurse follow. Administration rules add a second-nurse check where scanning is lost, flagged by a second note. Communication, a surge trigger, recovery and measures complete the plan.
NU710 Unit 6 rubric: what earns full points
Downtime plans are scored largely on whether they protect the riskiest care process, so a plan that covers insulin in detail outranks one that covers everything vaguely. Preparation earns credit for concrete tools ready before an event, like printed reports and forms. The during-event section is judged on roles, sequence and safety checks that replace the ones lost. Communication and recovery are usually separate criteria, and reconciliation of paper records is often missed. Evidence of how attacks affect care strengthens the rationale. Measures of readiness, such as drill completion and staff competence, show the plan is testable. Organization, nursing leadership sources and APA 7 complete the rubric for NU710.
NU710 Unit 6 help from the desk
Downtime plans lose marks when they stop at "use paper," with no forms, no roles and no plan for which processes need extra checks. Another common gap is ignoring recovery, when hours or weeks of paper records must be entered and reconciled. Some plans assume the outage will be short, which ransomware often is not. Others forget patients already discharged, whose follow-up depends on a list the record would have printed. Plans without drills are untested. Begin by walking through one insulin dose on your unit and writing down every system it touches, then ask what replaces each one. Send the high-risk process your own unit would struggle with first, and a custom downtime plan can be built around it.
Get an NU710 Unit 6 example written to your instructions
Send the setting, the systems at risk and the plan instructions with the rubric. A custom plan sets out downtime procedures, communication and recovery for the care that matters most. It is free the first time and arrives within 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.
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NU710 Unit 6 questions, answered
Why is ransomware a patient safety issue?
Because it can take electronic records, medication systems and devices offline, forcing a switch to paper processes that staff may rarely practice.
What should a downtime plan include?
Paper forms and workflows for high-risk processes, roles, communication, how to reconcile records afterward and regular drills.
Which processes need the most attention during downtime?
High-alert medications, such as insulin and anticoagulants, and processes like blood glucose documentation and order verification.
Where can I find a free NU710 Unit 6 sample paper?
The full NU710 Unit 6 cyberattack and downtime response plan is on this page, covering insulin care on paper during a ransomware outage, from preparation and the first hour to recovery and drills.
Why does the NU710 Unit 6 sample add a regional surge trigger?
Because an attack on a neighboring hospital can send its patients elsewhere, as happened in San Diego, so the plan opens the surge process if emergency census rises more than 15 percent for two days.