The task
This is original independent practice. All patient-specific observations, events and individual care arrangements are fictional. Assume that today's date is 4 November 2026. Mr Soos is transferring to the specialist rehabilitation ward today. Allow 45 minutes: 5 minutes for reading and 40 minutes for writing.
You are a registered nurse on the acute spinal ward. Using the case notes, write a transfer letter to Ms Sarah-Jane Watters, Spinal Rehabilitation Nurse, Specialist Rehabilitation Ward, 46 Station Road, NSW 2000, Australia. Explain Mr Soos's current assistance needs, abilities that should be preserved, existing bladder care and training needs. In your answer: expand the relevant notes into complete sentences; do not use note form; use letter format. The body of the letter should be approximately 180–200 words.
Length: the body of the letter should be about 180–200 words. You have 45 minutes in the test: 5 minutes to read, 40 to write. Letter type: Transfer letter.
Free · no sign-up · nursing
Which case notes belong in this letter?
Spinal cord injury: transfer
You are a registered nurse on the acute spinal ward. Using the case notes, write a transfer letter to Ms Sarah-Jane Watters, Spinal Rehabilitation Nurse, Specialist Rehabilitation Ward, 46 Station Road, NSW 2000, Australia. Explain Mr Soos's current assistance needs, abilities that should be preserved, existing bladder care and training needs. In your answer: expand the relevant notes into complete sentences; do not use note form; use letter format. The body of the letter should be approximately 180–200 words.
Mark every line: Include keeps the specific detail; Compress keeps the relevant gist in fewer words; Omit leaves it out. Then compare your choices with our reviewed analysis. Some choices are optional.
Download practice checklist (PDF)
One-page worksheet. Answers and reasons are on the linked webpage, so you can practise before checking.
Case notes
Patient details and social background
- Name: Mr Francisco Soos; DOB 21/02/1992 (34 yrs)
- Transfer date: 04/11/26; acute spinal ward → specialist rehabilitation
- Lives with partner; previously independent; employed in office work
- Home has entrance steps; occupational therapy access assessment pending
- Partner available evenings; patient consents to involvement
- Partner complained about visiting-hour arrangements
Medical history and injury
- Past history: childhood tonsillectomy; no ongoing medical conditions
- No known drug allergies
- 08/10: fall → T10 spinal cord injury; spine now mechanically stable
- 04/11: no voluntary leg movement; reduced sensation below injury; arm/hand function normal
Functional progress and current assistance
- 15/10: hoist transfers; dependent for dressing
- 28/10: began slide-board transfer practice with physiotherapist
- 03/11: propels wheelchair independently on level surfaces
- Eats, washes upper body and dresses top half independently
- Requires lower-body washing/dressing assistance; asks to choose own clothes
- Current transfers: slide board + one trained assistant; no independent transfers
- Previously cycled to work; bicycle remains at workplace
- Requests staff explain assistance first; wants maximum independence
Bladder care
- Initial urinary retention; indwelling catheter inserted during acute admission
- Current urethral catheter: clear urine, free drainage, no leakage
- No fever or catheter discomfort reported today
- Maintain drainage/record output; reduced drainage or leakage → prompt assessment
- Observed intermittent catheterisation teaching 02/11; no practice; assess readiness/supervise training; specialist team to decide catheter removal
- Patient anxious about handling catheter; normal hand dexterity
Other care and rehabilitation plan
- Skin intact; needs assisted bed turns, pressure-relieving mattress/cushion and regular skin checks
- Bowel care currently nurse-assisted; individual plan accompanies transfer
- Sleeping better; accepts psychology appointment
- Goal: independent bladder care; asks about walking; team explained recovery uncertain, no prognosis promised
- Rehabilitation requested for mobility, self-care and bladder-care training
- Medication, physiotherapy and occupational therapy handovers accompany transfer
Who is reading, and what do they need?
Ms Watters is taking over today's rehabilitation transfer of 34-year-old Mr Soos. She needs precise assistance levels, retained abilities and current bladder management to continue care without either over-assisting him or assuming untested skills. His partner is available evenings and may be involved with consent; detailed remote history is less useful than current function and practical training needs.
What to include
Selection is the skill the Content and Conciseness criteria reward. These notes earn their place:
| Case note | Why it belongs |
|---|---|
| T10 injury 08/10; mechanically stable; no voluntary leg movement; reduced sensation below injury; normal arms/hands. | The current neurological abilities explain both assistance needs and the upper-limb function available for rehabilitation. |
| Independent eating, upper-body washing and upper-body dressing. | Explicit retained self-care abilities help staff preserve independence rather than provide unnecessary assistance. |
| Independent level-surface wheelchair propulsion; lower-body care assistance; own clothing choices; assistance explained first. | These distinctions support practical assistance while respecting the patient's expressed preferences and existing mobility. |
| Transfers: slide board with one trained assistant; no independent transfers. | The exact current transfer requirement prevents wheelchair independence being mistaken for transfer independence. |
| Urethral catheter: clear urine, free drainage, no leakage. | The receiving nurse needs the existing device and current drainage status as a bladder-care baseline. |
| Maintain drainage and record output; promptly assess reduced drainage or leakage. | These existing catheter-care instructions identify continuing tasks and the documented triggers for assessment. |
| 02/11 teaching observed, unpractised; assess readiness, supervise training; specialist team decides catheter removal. | Observation does not establish competence, and catheter removal remains a specialist decision rather than an automatic rehabilitation step. |
| Intact skin; assisted bed turns, pressure-relieving mattress/cushion and regular skin checks. | Intact skin does not remove the need for the documented assistance and pressure-care measures. |
What to leave out or compress
| Case note | Why it goes |
|---|---|
| Partner complained about visiting-hour arrangements. | This complaint does not determine current rehabilitation assistance, consented involvement or bladder-care training. |
| Childhood tonsillectomy; no ongoing conditions or known drug allergies. | Remote history can be omitted; the allergy statement is optional concise context rather than a reason to expand the background. |
| Previously cycled to work; bicycle remains at workplace. | The bicycle's location does not affect the receiving nurse's immediate mobility or care decisions. |
| Earlier hoist dependence and initial slide-board practice. | Historical progress can be compressed because the current transfer method and assistance level direct today's care. |
| Previous independence and office employment. | These details may provide brief rehabilitation context but should yield space to current function and training needs. |
| Sleeping better; accepts psychology appointment. | This is useful optional psychosocial context, but it need not displace the requested functional and bladder-care handover. |
A paragraph plan for this case
Open with the rehabilitation transfer purpose, injury and current neurological function, then group independent self-care and wheelchair abilities separately from lower-body assistance and the exact assisted transfer method. Use the next paragraph for retention requiring the existing catheter, its current drainage findings, optional absence of fever or catheter discomfort, ongoing drainage/output care, and the distinction between observed teaching and supervised practical training. Close with assisted pressure care, the accompanying nurse-assisted bowel plan and medication/physiotherapy/occupational therapy handovers, adding the entrance steps and pending occupational therapy access assessment as useful discharge-planning context.
Where candidates slip on this task
- Observing intermittent catheterisation on 2 November is not practical competence; normal hand dexterity does not remove catheter-handling anxiety, the need to assess readiness or the requirement for supervised training.
- Keep independent bladder care as a rehabilitation goal without promising walking recovery; the team explicitly described recovery as uncertain, so mechanical spinal stability must not become a neurological prognosis.
- Do not generalise independent wheelchair propulsion on level surfaces into independent transfers or complete self-care; preserve the trained-assistant requirement, lower-body help and all documented pressure-care measures.
No model letter is published here. Write for the named reader from the case notes in the timed editor, then get it marked.
Write it in the timed editor and get marked on the 6 criteria
More Nursing letter tasks
- Transfer to residential aged care after a stroke: dysphagia and pressure injury transfer letter
- Transfer to a rehabilitation unit after knee replacement complicated by delirium transfer letter
- Below-knee amputation: transfer transfer letter
Your profession's guide: OET Nursing. Layout and structure: OET letter format.
Questions about this task
Should the letter describe Mr Soos as dependent?
A broad dependency label would obscure his abilities. Separate independent eating, upper-body care and level-surface wheelchair propulsion from assisted lower-body care, bed turns and transfers. The receiving nurse needs these practical distinctions to provide the right assistance while preserving his expressed wish for maximum independence.
Can the rehabilitation nurse assume he is ready for independent intermittent catheterisation?
No. He observed teaching but has not practised, and he reports anxiety about handling the catheter despite normal dexterity. Select the readiness assessment and supervised training request, while preserving the existing drainage care and the specialist team's authority to decide catheter removal.
Sources
Last checked 22 Oct 2026. Rules and prices change: confirm on the official page before you book or apply.
OETAce is an independent practice site. OET is a registered trademark of Cambridge Boxhill Language Assessment (CBLA); we are not affiliated with or endorsed by CBLA. All practice material here is original.