Research paperCare delivery models

Effective Models in Nursing Care

An observation assignment, not a literature review. The model has to be identified from what you actually watched, and the evidence for your identification is the behaviour you describe.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 22, 2026

Written by

Maren Caldwell

MSN, RN, CNE

Medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology and NCLEX preparation

Reviewed by

Dr. Tessa Redmond

DNP, RN, CNE

Evidence-based practice and clinical education

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Interpret the task
Assignment instructions
Deliverables
Proposed outline
Research plan
Reference shortlist
Final review

The evidence for your answer is what you watched

This is an observation assignment and the instruction is unusually explicit about it, asking who was doing what, when, how, and what led you to identify the model. That last clause is the assignment: your identification is a claim and the observed behaviour is the evidence. So write the observation before you write the label, and resist naming the model in your notes until the description is complete, because once a label is written the remaining observations tend to be recorded to fit it. Record the assignment method at the start of the shift, how many patients each nurse carried, what was delegated to assistive personnel and what was not, who answered the call light, who spoke to the family, who was accountable for the plan across the whole stay, and how handover worked. Those six observations are enough to identify any of the standard models, and a paper that records them well has already done the hard part.

Then name the model against the textbook's own categories, since the brief points at specific pages. Total patient care, functional nursing, team nursing, primary nursing and case management are the usual set, and the discriminators are worth stating: functional nursing divides tasks across staff, team nursing divides patients across a team led by a registered nurse, primary nursing assigns one nurse accountability for a patient across the admission, and case management coordinates across settings and episodes. Expect a hybrid, because most real units run one, and saying which elements come from which model is a stronger answer than forcing a single label. Then evaluate rather than describe: what did the observed model do well for continuity, communication, delegation and workload, and where did it strain. Link that to the evidence on care delivery models and outcomes so the evaluation rests on something beyond the shift you happened to watch.

Likely learning objectives

Record observations specific enough to support an identification.
Distinguish care delivery models by their assignment and accountability structure.
Recognise a hybrid model rather than forcing a single label.
Evaluate the observed model against published outcomes.

Assignment instructions

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

PLEASE FOLLOW EXACT DIRECTIONS TEXTBOOK READING ATTACHED. PLEASE READ & CHOOSE NURSING CARE MODEL FROM PROVIDED READING. This assignment is worth 200 points. Effective Models in Nursing Care Directions 1.Read your text, Finkelman (2016), pp- 111-116. 2.Observe staff in delivery of nursing care provided. Practice settings may vary depending on availability. 3.Identify the model of nursing care that you observed. Be specific about what you observed, who was doing what, when, how and what led you to identify the particular model. 4.Write a 5-7 page paper. 5.You are required to complete the assignment using the productivity tools required by Chamberlain University, which is Microsoft Office Word 2013 (or later version), or Windows and Office 2011 (or later version) for MAC. You must save the file in the “.docx” format. Do NOT save as Word Pad. A later version of the productivity tool includes Office 365, which is available to Chamberlain students for FREE by downloading from the student portal at http://my.chamberlain.edu (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Click on the envelope at the top of the page. 6.Review and summarize two scholarly resources (not including your text) related to the nursing care model you observed in the practice setting. 7.Review and summarize two scholarly resources (not including your text) related to a nursing care model that is different from the one you observed in the practice setting. 8.Discuss your observations about how the current nursing care model is being implemented. Be specific. 9.Recommend a different nursing care model that could be implemented to improve quality of nursing care, safety and staff satisfaction. Be specific. 10.Provide a summary/conclusion about this experience/assignment and what you learned about nursing care models. 11.Write your paper using APA format using Microsoft Office 2010 or later. 12.Submit your paper no later than 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday by the end of Week 5.

Turn the brief into deliverables

01A detailed observation with roles, timing and delegation described.
02An identification of the model, with the observed evidence for it.
03The discriminating features that ruled out the alternatives.
04An acknowledgement of hybrid elements where present.
05An evaluation of strengths and strains with evidence.
06A 5 to 7 page paper in the required format.