WGU D235A: Interprofessional Communication & Leadership in Healthcare

Why This Course Matters in Your Nursing Journey

WGU D235A, Interprofessional Communication and Leadership in Healthcare, is one of the first courses most students meet in the Leavitt School of Health, and it sets the tone for everything that follows. Rather than testing clinical facts, it asks you to look inward: how you communicate, how you work alongside other professionals, and what kind of leader you are becoming. It is a foundational course, usually taken early in your first term, and it carries two competency units. The "A" in the course code is simply WGU's internal versioning of the D235 course; the content and assessment are the same interprofessional communication and leadership material.

Direct answer: D235A is passed by completing one written reflection paper, not a proctored test. To pass, complete the 5Dynamics working style survey early, read the task rubric line by line, and write an honest, specific reflection that addresses every rubric aspect with concrete personal examples. Meet each competency point and you pass.

If you are an anxious adult learner staring at your first WGU course, take a breath. This is a course about self-awareness and healthy team communication, both of which reduce medical errors and improve patient care in the real world. It is far more introspective than technical, and that is exactly why some students find it deceptively tricky: there is no answer key to memorize, only your own honest thinking to organize on the page.

What the Performance Assessment Covers

D235A is assessed entirely by a Performance Assessment (PA) — a submitted reflection paper evaluated against a rubric. There is no objective assessment and nothing to sit in a testing room for. The course is organized into four sections and eight short lessons, and the reflection draws on the concepts you encounter along the way. Verified topic areas include:

• 5Dynamics working styles — a self-survey that describes your natural preferences for how you learn, plan, collaborate, and complete work.
• Self-awareness and emotional intelligence — noticing your reactions, strengths, and growth areas.
• Mindfulness and reflective practice — using structured reflection to make sense of your experiences.
• Interprofessional communication — how clear, respectful communication across healthcare roles supports safe patient care.
• Leadership mindset — connecting your working style and values to how you lead and contribute on a team.

Your job in the reflection is to weave these ideas together with your own experiences and goals, showing genuine insight rather than summarizing definitions.

How Hard Is It, Really?

Many students report that D235A is on the lighter, more manageable end of their program, especially compared with heavy clinical or statistics courses. Because it is a two-CU reflective paper, a common pattern students describe is finishing within roughly one to three weeks when they work on it steadily. That said, "not hard" is not the same as "automatic." The most frequent frustration students mention is having a submission returned for revision because the reflection was too vague or skipped part of the rubric. The difficulty here is discipline and specificity, not intellectual complexity. Plan for a first draft, honest self-review against the rubric, and time for one revision cycle, and you will rarely be caught off guard.

A Practical Study and Writing Plan

Because there is no exam to cram for, your "study" is really structured preparation for a strong paper. Here is a course-specific approach that works well:

• Do the 5Dynamics survey first. Everything else builds on it. Read your results carefully and jot down two or three moments from your own life or work that illustrate each dynamic. Concrete examples are what elevate a reflection from generic to convincing.
• Read the task and rubric before you read the lessons. Knowing exactly what evaluators look for lets you take targeted notes as you move through the material — a form of active reading that beats passive skimming.
• Use retrieval, not rereading. After each lesson, close the tab and write a few sentences from memory about how the concept applies to you. This active-recall habit surfaces the personal connections the reflection needs.
• Outline against the rubric. Make each rubric aspect its own heading in a rough draft, then fill each with a specific example. This guarantees full coverage — the single biggest cause of passing versus revising.
• Space the work over a few sittings. Reflection improves with a little distance. Draft, sleep on it, then reread. You will catch shallow spots and add depth.
• Self-check with the rubric one last time. Treat your own rubric pass like a practice run: for each row, ask "Did I clearly address this with evidence?" Fix any "not quite" before submitting.

Mistakes That Send Papers Back for Revision

Learning from where others stumble is the fastest way to a clean first submission. Watch for these:

• Staying abstract. Writing about communication and leadership in general terms without grounding them in your own specific experiences. Evaluators want your story, not a textbook summary.
• Missing a rubric aspect. Reflections often cover most prompts but quietly skip one, which triggers a revision. Check every aspect deliberately.
• Describing without reflecting. Recounting what happened but never analyzing what it revealed about you or what you would do differently.
• Ignoring the 5Dynamics results. The paper expects you to connect your actual survey outcomes to your working and leadership style; generic personality talk does not satisfy this.
• Underdeveloped length or depth. Rushing to submit a thin draft. A little more specificity and honest self-analysis usually turns a borderline paper into a clear pass.

Submission Readiness Checklist

Before you submit, run through these honest self-checks:

• Can you state your 5Dynamics results and explain what each means for how you work?
• Can you give a specific, real example for every rubric aspect the task lists?
• Can you connect your communication style to safe, effective teamwork in a healthcare setting?
• Can you point to at least one growth area and describe how you plan to develop it?
• Can you show reflection, not just description, in each section of your paper?
• Can you confirm you addressed every prompt in the task instructions, with none skipped?
• Can you read your draft aloud and hear a genuine, personal voice rather than a summary?
• Can you check your paper against the rubric row by row and mark each as clearly met?

FAQ

Is WGU D235A an OA or a PA?

It is a Performance Assessment only. You complete and submit one reflection paper that is evaluated against a rubric. There is no objective (multiple-choice) assessment and no proctored exam.

How many competency units is D235A worth?

WGU lists the course as two competency units. It is a relatively small course typically taken early in the program.

How long does D235A usually take?

WGU suggests roughly two to three weeks, and many students report finishing in about one to three weeks when they work on it consistently. Doing the 5Dynamics survey early and drafting against the rubric tends to speed things up.

What is the 5Dynamics survey and do I have to do it?

5Dynamics is a working-style self-assessment used in the course to help you understand how you prefer to learn, plan, collaborate, and complete work. It is central to the reflection, so completing it early gives you the material your paper is built on.

Why did my reflection get sent back for revision?

The most common reasons are being too general, skipping a rubric aspect, or describing experiences without truly reflecting on them. Reviewing the rubric point by point and adding specific personal examples usually resolves it.

Do I need clinical or nursing knowledge to pass?

No. D235A focuses on self-awareness, communication, and leadership rather than clinical content. Your own experiences and honest reflection matter far more than technical knowledge here.

Where to Go Next

Once D235A is behind you, the self-awareness and communication habits you built carry into the rest of the Leavitt School of Health curriculum. If you want to plan ahead, our guides for D160 Nursing Leadership and Management Field Experience and D394 Care for Individuals and Families show how these leadership and communication themes deepen later, while D571 Psychopathology is a common companion course for many health students. You can also browse the full Leavitt School of Health hub or our complete library of WGU course guides to map your term. For official course details, see the WGU course page.