Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines
Briefing Note Assignment – Examples
http://www.publicsectorwriting.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Options-Recommendation-Briefing-Note.pdf
http://rnao.ca/policy/briefing-notes/preventing-managing-violence-workplace
The links above provide examples of briefing notes. There are many ways of writing a briefing note.
The first example is not related to nursing but it is addressed to a person (audience), the Purpose is the issue/problem is stated concisely, the Background gives a brief history of the issue, and the Current Situation speaks to what is happening now. The Key Considerations are the 3 bulleted points in the Current Situation section. There are 3 Options related directly to and may help to solve the considerations outlined in the 3 bulleted points (Key Considerations). Note that each option provides at least one advantage and one disadvantage. This briefing note ends with a Recommendations section but in this example, only states the preferred option and does not summarize the major important points the reader should take away. Often busy decision-makers only read the last section; therefore, the writer of this briefing note lost the opportunity to quickly draw attention to and inform the decision-maker. Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines
Alternatively, in the RNAO briefing note example, the issue relates directly to nursing but the briefing note does not follow the recommended format (Issue, Background, Current Situation, Key Considerations, Recommendations) that should be addressed in the Briefing Note Assignment guidelines. Therefore, it is suggested you use the above examples to get the general idea of how a briefing note is written but be sure to include all of the key areas in the Briefing Note Assignment guidelines when writing your briefing note.
Notice there are no citations or reference list in these examples! For your Briefing Note assignment, you are expected to acknowledge your sources of information with citations and a complete reference list according to Conestoga College’s Academic Integrity Policy.
Finally, you might consider the briefing note to be similar to SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, Recommendations) and similar to papers you wrote in COMM1085 (introduction/thesis statement, significance, background, 2-3 body paragraphs with support and development of the thesis, and one concluding paragraph). Consider booking an appointment with Student Success Services if you require added support with your writing skills.
Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines
Weight: 15%
Learning Outcomes Addressed in this Assignment:
Purpose:
The purpose of the Briefing Note assignment is to practice an effective and efficient strategy to inform decision-makers about an important health issue that impacts the health of the population. This assignment involves the production of an original briefing note on a nursing, health or health care problem of interest to you. Examples of broad topic areas from which you can choose a specific focus (see example below) include, but are not limited to:
End of life care Social determinants of health Patient Safety
Harm reduction Community-based care Chronic illness
Health human resources Aging and seniors’ care Access to care
Health system financing Care delivery models Immigrant health
Pharmaceutical policy Quality of care Non-medical cannabis use
COVID Management
An example of what is meant by ‘broad topic area”:
Indigenous health in Canada
- An abundance of evidence demonstrates that Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Metis, Inuit) in Canada live with a greater percentage of serious health issues compared to the rest of the Canadian population.
On the following page, you will find examples of what is meant by “choose a specific focus” from the broad topic area for writing your briefing note. This means you might choose one of the following specific focus areas from the broad topic area, Indigenous health in Canada, for writing your briefing note:
Malnutrition
Lower levels of education
Higher suicide rates
Inadequate, crowded housing
Higher rates of chronic illness
Higher rates of death in children due to
High rate of tuberculosis
Unsafe drinking water
Alcohol misuse
Content:
Write your Briefing Note using the following sub-headings: Audience, Issue, Background, Current Status, Key Considerations, Options, and Recommendations as below. Notice there are questions associated with each sub-heading. It may not be necessary to address each question in each sub-heading because not all may be relevant to your topic. However, you may decide to use the questions under each sub-heading questions as threads to help you frame your briefing note.
- Audience: Who are you addressing in this briefing note? Be sure your briefing note is written with consideration of the target audience (please note, the audience of your briefing note is not your professor)
- Issue: Short, concise statement or two about what is the specific issue is about. Who is affected by the issue? What is the significance of the issue? Why should the issue matter to the reader (audience of your briefing note)? Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines
- Background: Give a brief summary of the background events leading up to the issue.
What is the history leading up to the development of the issue and/or how has the issue evolved?
- Current Status: Describe the current situation of the issue in terms of its current state. What is the current situation or status of the issue? What is happening now? Who is involved?
- Key Considerations: Inform your reader about aspects of the issue that need to be factored in, thought carefully about, studied, or contemplated prior to making decisions about how to address the issue. Key considerations must be supported with credible, current evidence.
- 2 Options about how the issue could be addressed. The options should relate directly to the key considerations. Include the advantages and disadvantages for each option.
- Recommendation: Concise, brief summary of what you want your reader to conclude from the reasoning and evidence you provided. What are the key points you want your audience to be clear about? Finally, state the most preferred option from #6 above.
Adapted from Doyle, S. 92013). How to Write a Briefing Note. Retrieved February 22nd, 2019 from https://web.uvic.ca/~sdoyle/E302/Notes/WritingBriefingNotes.html)
Process:
The assignment requires the items included in the checklist below:
- Report format; this is not a scholarly paper. You may decide to follow the template available for use located in the Briefing Note Resources located in the Briefing Note Assignment module to frame your briefing note.
- APA format with citations and references according to APA@ Conestoga.
- Arial 12 font
- No more than 3 pages – single spaced (does not include list of references)
- Newspaper/magazine articles are not to be used in your assignment; use only credible, relevant, and quality resources.
- Submission must be made to the assignment dropbox in the e-Conestoga shell for course NURS8945 by the due date and time.
- See Student Handbook for regulations regarding late assignments
- Academic Integrity Policy is in effect; Turnitin feature enabled in the assignment dropbox. You may use the Turnitin feature as an educative strategy to correct any potential plagiarism, and citation and referencing errors in advance of your final submission. Your final submission to the assignment dropbox will be the submission that is evaluated.
Use the resource documents contained in the Briefing Note Assignment module to guide your thinking as you prepare to write this assignment. Remember, three pages may seem short, however, you will be graded on the quality of the briefing note you produce and the level of synthesis and thoughtfulness contained therein. Briefing Note Assignment Guidelines
Prepared by Valerie Abbott, March, 2019, in consultation with Lisa Trimble, Teaching and Learning, Conestoga College
Prepared by Valerie Abbott, March 2019, in consultation with Lisa Trimble, Teaching and Learning, Conestoga College
