| Course | DNP 852A Project Manuscript |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 5 |
| Paper type | Sustainability plan |
| Length | About 1,007 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | DNP |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for DNP 852A Module 5
When the Student Leaves: A Sustainability Plan for a Nurse-Led Pediatric Asthma Program
Student Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, Aspen University
DNP 852A: Project Manuscript
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
When the Student Leaves: A Sustainability Plan for a Nurse-Led Pediatric Asthma Program
Many improvement projects fade once the person who led them leaves. A sustainability plan written before that happens gives the change a better chance of lasting. What follows is the sustainment plan for my DNP project, the pediatric clinic's nurse asthma visit, written with the people who will run it. The clinic has decided to keep the program. The plan defines what sustainability means here, sorts the program's parts into what will continue, adapt or stop, gives each continuing part an owner, a measure and a trigger, and describes training, funding, the handoff and the first review.
What Sustainability Means Here
Scheirer and Dearing (2011) describe sustainability as more than a program continuing to run; it can also mean that the program's benefits continue and that the capacity behind it, such as trained staff and partnerships, is maintained. Chambers et al. (2013) go further, arguing that sustainment should be expected to involve ongoing adaptation and improvement rather than faithful repetition of the original design, because settings keep changing. The plan uses both ideas. Its goal is not to preserve the project exactly as it ran but to keep its core working and its benefits visible while letting delivery change.
Keep, Adapt or Stop
The program's parts were sorted with the clinic manager and the nurse lead. The heart of the visit stays as it is: a plan in the family's language, device coaching held to the checklist, teach-back and the school link. Delivery will adapt: instead of project enrollment, children will be booked into two half-day nurse sessions a week from the registry flag and clinician referrals, and the two-week call will be replaced for low-risk children by a portal message with a call only if the family does not respond. Two project activities will stop: the weekly project log and the chart audit of one visit in five, which were needed to evaluate the project but are too costly to run indefinitely. A lighter monthly measure will replace them.
Owners, Measures and Triggers
Each continuing element has an owner, a measure checked monthly and a trigger that prompts action, as the table shows.
| Element | Owner | Monthly measure | Trigger for review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nurse asthma visit | Nurse lead | Visits completed against sessions booked | Fewer than 70% of slots used for two months |
| Action plan coverage | Informatics analyst | Share of registry children with a current plan | Falls below 40% |
| Technique reinforcement | Medical assistant lead | Technique checks documented at routine asthma visits | Below 60% of visits |
| School link | Front-desk lead | Consented plans sent within a week | Below 85% |
| Language access | Clinic manager | Plans issued in Spanish when preferred | Any month below 95% |
| Acute care | Medical director | Asthma emergency and urgent care visits against the same month last year | Rise for two consecutive months |
Why Technique Reinforcement Has Its Own Owner
Of all the elements, reinforcement is the most likely to disappear, because it is short, easy to skip and invisible when it is missing. Evidence that the benefits of inhaler technique education fade over time without reinforcement (Klijn et al., 2017) matches what the project saw. Giving the check to medical assistants, with its own owner and measure, makes it part of routine rooming rather than an extra task for nurses.
Training New Staff
New nurses will complete the simulation session and an observed visit before running asthma sessions, and new medical assistants will be signed off on the technique check. The site mentor has agreed to run the simulation twice a year, and the scenarios, checklist and competency form are stored with the clinic's orientation materials.
Float nurses who cover asthma sessions will complete a shortened version with one observed visit. Each training record will be filed with the nurse lead, so that the clinic can show at any time who is signed off to deliver the visit and who still needs the session.
The nurse lead will keep the list current.
The Funding Question
The project's cost was mostly nurse time, about 118 hours over the implementation phase. Two half-day sessions a week will cost the clinic roughly eight nurse hours weekly. The clinic manager will track whether visits can be billed under the clinic's payer contracts and will report to leadership at six months. If they cannot, the plan's fallback is to fold the action plan and technique check into routine clinician visits, keeping the core at lower intensity.
Either way, the written plan and the technique check remain.
Risks to Sustainment
Four risks could undo the program. The nurse lead could leave, taking much of the program's working knowledge along; the handoff kit and the second nurse's training are the response. Clinic volume could rise and absorb the protected sessions; the booked-slot measure will show this within two months. The template could be changed in a record upgrade, breaking the registry flag; the informatics analyst will test it after every upgrade. And success could breed complacency, with technique checks dropping once acute visits fall; the reinforcement measure is there to catch that drift. Each risk has already been discussed with its owner, and the quality committee will ask about all four at the six-month review.
Handoff and Review
Before leaving, the project lead will hand the nurse lead a kit containing the templates, checklists, training materials, the monthly measure report and this plan, and will walk through it with each owner. The clinic's quality committee will review the monthly measures at three and six months and advise leaders on bringing the visit to the health system's second pediatric clinic.
The kit is stored on the clinic's shared drive.
Conclusion
The plan keeps the program's core, adapts its delivery to routine operations, stops what only the evaluation needed, and gives each continuing part an owner, a measure and a trigger. By treating sustainment as ongoing adaptation, it aims to keep the benefits of the program after the student is gone.
The chair has asked to see the three-month report as soon as it is ready.
References
Chambers, D. A., Glasgow, R. E., & Stange, K. C. (2013). The dynamic sustainability framework: Addressing the paradox of sustainment amid ongoing change. Implementation Science, 8, Article 117. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-8-117
Klijn, S. L., Hiligsmann, M., Evers, S. M. A. A., Román-Rodríguez, M., van der Molen, T., & van Boven, J. F. M. (2017). Effectiveness and success factors of educational inhaler technique interventions in asthma & COPD patients: A systematic review. NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine, 27, Article 24. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41533-017-0022-1
Scheirer, M. A., & Dearing, J. W. (2011). An agenda for research on the sustainability of public health programs. American Journal of Public Health, 101(11), 2059-2067. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300193
DNP 852A Module 5 instructions, in plain terms
Sustainability is the subject of this module. The Aspen catalog places chapter five in DNP 852A, and a plan for sustaining the change is a standard part of that chapter; because the module wording is not public, the example is built on that basis. A sustainability assignment usually asks you to describe what will continue after the project, which person or team takes ownership, how monitoring and funding will work, and what could cause it to fail. Your chair may ask you to apply a sustainability framework or to include a letter from the site. Some programs want a timeline for handoff. Check the length and source requirements, and involve the people who will own each element before you name them.
Inside the DNP 852A Module 5 example
Ten sections carry about 1,000 words, starting with why projects fade without a plan. A definitions section draws on two frameworks. Keep, adapt or stop sorts the program's parts. A table gives each continuing element an owner, a monthly measure and a trigger. A section explains why technique reinforcement has its own owner, citing evidence that technique gains fade. Training for new staff describes sign-off and records. The funding question estimates weekly nurse time and sets a fallback. Four risks to sustainment are named with responses. Handoff and review describe the kit and the quality committee's reviews, and the conclusion restates the plan's approach.
DNP 852A Module 5 rubric: what earns full marks
Sustainability plans are graded on concreteness, ownership and realism. Concreteness comes from the table, where every element has a measure and a trigger, and the margin notes explain how sorting parts into keep, adapt and stop reflects a modern view of sustainment. Ownership is clear because each element is assigned to a named role that already exists. Realism shows in the funding section's fallback and in the decision to stop evaluation-only activities. Naming risks with responses shows foresight. Grounding the plan in two frameworks and in evidence on fading technique supports the scholarship criterion. For formatting, graders check the APA table and the three citations, and a sustainability plan with a sloppy table undercuts its own message about care.
Common DNP 852A Module 5 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Students often write sustainability plans that say the program will continue, with no owner, measure or funding. Assign each element to a role and a measure. Another common mistake is trying to sustain everything, including evaluation activities that only a project can afford. Decide what stops. Papers also ignore money, although nurse time is the main cost of most nursing programs. Estimate it and give a fallback. Some plans assume the student's enthusiasm will be replaced automatically. Plan training for new staff and a handoff. Finally, set review dates. A plan with no scheduled review is unlikely to be looked at again once the project ends.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More DNP 852A and DNP sample papers
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- DNP 852A Module 4: Implications for Practice, Policy and Education
- DNP 852A Module 6: Checking Alignment Across the Manuscript
- DNP 852A Module 7: The Structured Abstract
- DNP 852A Module 8: The Completed Final Chapter
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- DNP 899 Module 1: Revising the Final Chapter After Feedback
- DNP 851B Module 7: Recommendations for Practice and Future Work
DNP 852A Module 5 questions, answered
What does DNP 852A Module 5 usually ask for?
Aspen's DNP 852A description covers completing the final chapter, and a plan for sustaining the change after the student leaves is a typical part of it. Check your classroom for the prompt.
What should a DNP sustainability plan include?
What will continue, adapt or stop, an owner for each continuing element, a simple measure checked regularly, a trigger for action, training for new staff, a funding plan and a scheduled review.
Does sustainability mean keeping everything the same?
No. Current thinking treats sustainment as keeping the core and its benefits while delivery adapts to a changing setting. Evaluation-only activities can usually stop.
Where can I find a free DNP 852A Module 5 sample paper?
Here the sustainability plan appears in full, owners table and notes included, with no fee to read. It is part of the DNP 852A series on the pediatric asthma project, between the implications and alignment samples.
What makes a DNP 852A Module 5 sustainability plan realistic?
Named owners in existing roles, a simple monthly measure with a trigger, a plan for training new staff, a funding estimate with a fallback, identified risks and scheduled reviews by the site's own leaders.