Sample Answer for NURS 6521 Week 8 Pharmacology for Psychological Disorders Tasks Included After Question
Discussion: Decision Making When Treating Psychological Disorders
Psychological disorders, such as depression, bipolar, and anxiety disorders can present several complications for patients of all ages. These disorders affect patients physically and emotionally, potentially impacting judgment, school and/or job performance, and relationships with family and friends. Since these disorders have many drastic effects on patients’ lives, it is important for advanced practice nurses to effectively manage patient care. With patient factors and medical history in mind, it is the advanced practice nurse’s responsibility to ensure the safe and effective diagnosis, treatment, and education of patients with psychological disorders.
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For this Discussion, you will select an interactive media piece to practice decision making when treating patients with psychological disorders. You will recommend the most effective pharmacotherapeutic to treat the psychological disorder presented and examine potential impacts of pharmacotherapeutics on a patient’s pathophysiology.
To Prepare
- Review this week’s interactive media pieces and select one to focus on for this Discussion.
- Reflect on the decision steps in the interactive media pieces, and consider the potential impacts from the administration of the associated pharmacotherapeutics on the patient’s pathophysiology.
By Day 3 of Week 8
Post a brief explanation of the psychological disorder presented and the decision steps you applied in completing the interactive media piece for the psychological disorder you selected. Then, explain how the administration of the associated pharmacotherapeutics you recommended may impact the patient’s pathophysiology. How might these potential impacts inform how you would suggest treatment plans for this patient? Be specific and provide examples.
By Day 6 of Week 8
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who selected a different interactive media piece on a psychological disorder, and provide recommendations for alternative drug treatments to address the patient’s pathophysiology.
Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link, and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 8 Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 of Week 8 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 8
To Participate in this Discussion:
Week 8 Discussion
Assignment: Decision Tree for Neurological and Musculoskeletal
By Day 7 of Week 8
Submit your Assignment, started in Week 6.
Reminder: The Collegeof Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center offers an example of those required elements (available at http://writingcenter.waldenu.edu/57.htm). All papers submitted must use this formatting.
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- Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
- Click the Week 8 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
- Click the Week 8 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
- Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK8Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
- If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
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To access your rubric:
Week 8 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 8 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 8
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Week 8 Assignment
What’s Coming Up in Module 7?
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In the next module, you will examine types of drugs prescribed to address women’s and men’s health, infections, and disorders of the hematologic system.
Next Week
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 6521 Week 8 Pharmacology for Psychological Disorders Tasks
Title: NURS 6521 Week 8 Pharmacology for Psychological Disorders Tasks
Alzheimer’s is a common progressive neurological disorder caused by dementia among older adults. The disorder is characterized by mild to moderate cognitive symptoms at first which lead to severe memory loss as the individual ages. Several treatment options have however been provided to help promote the quality of life and reduce suffering among patients diagnosed with this disorder (Tsolaki, 2018). The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the choice of medication based on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors for an elderly patient with Alzheimer’s disease.
Patient Case Study Summary
The patient in the provided case study is a 76-year-old Iranian male who presented to the clinic with strange behaviors. The patient reports symptoms of Alzheimer’s such as confusion, loss of interest in religious activities, and forgetfulness for the past 2 years. Some of the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic factors that might affect the choice of medication for the patient include his male gender, advanced age, and Iranian race, in addition to the mini-mental examination results which reveal moderate dementia (Tan et al., 2018). The patient’s diagnosis of major neurocognitive disorder resulting from Alzheimer’s disease will also be considered.
Treatment Decisions
Based on the above-mentioned pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors, the best treatment choice for the patient out of the available options was to initiate 1.5 mg Exelon (rivastigmine) twice daily. Studies have reported great effectiveness with the use of rivastigmine as the first-line medication for the management of Alzheimer’s disease, with great tolerance and safety profile (dos Santos et al., 2018). The second intervention was to titrate the dose upwards from 1.5mg to 4.5 mg twice daily as recommended by clinical guidelines, given that the patient displayed limited reemission of symptoms with the use of 1.5 mg rivastigmine for the past 4 weeks. Despite the patient exhibiting great tolerance to the medication, its effectiveness was still limited which led to the final decision to increase the dose to 6mg orally twice daily.
Expected Outcome
Studies show that rivastigmine may take up to 8 to 12 weeks to completely manage the symptoms of dementia. The dose must however be titrated at intervals of 1.5mg after every 2 weeks, after an initial dose of 1.5mg twice daily, to attain the optimum dose for an effective outcome. The patient should however not exceed 6mg twice daily (Nguyen et al., 2021). As such, the patient was expected to display remission of symptoms, within 8 weeks, with minimal mental examination results of less than 10.
Difference Between Expected Outcome and Actual Outcome
The patient responded adequately to the medication as expected. Within the first four weeks, minimal remission of symptoms was experienced with no side effects as expected. The dose was increased which led to better results until the optimum dose was attained with no side effects (Khoury et al., 2018). As such the patient exhibited great tolerance and adherence to the medication with great effectiveness just as expected.
Conclusion
Alzheimer’s disorder is a disabling condition that requires timely treatment to promote the patient’s quality of life. Several treatment options are however available which require keen consideration of the patient’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors when selecting which drug to use for which patient. The 76-year-old Iranian male patient described above displayed great tolerance and adherence to the use of rivastigmine.
References
dos Santos, P., Leide, C., Ozela, P. F., de Fatima de Brito, M., Pinheiro, A. A., Padilha, E. C., … & Izabel, L. (2018). Alzheimer’s disease: a review from the pathophysiology to diagnosis, new perspectives for pharmacological treatment. Current medicinal chemistry, 25(26), 3141-3159. https://doi.org/10.2174/0929867323666161213101126
Khoury, R., Rajamanickam, J., & Grossberg, G. T. (2018). An update on the safety of current therapies for Alzheimer’s disease: focus on rivastigmine. Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety, 9(3), 171-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/2042098617750555
Nguyen, K., Hoffman, H., Chakkamparambil, B., & Grossberg, G. T. (2021). Evaluation of rivastigmine in Alzheimer’s disease. Neurodegenerative Disease Management, 11(1), 35-48. https://doi.org/10.2217/nmt-2020-0052
Tan, E. C., Hilmer, S. N., Garcia-Ptacek, S., & Bell, J. (2018). Current approaches to the pharmacological treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Australian Journal of general practice, 47(9), 586-592. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.849432651288623
Tsolaki, M. (2018). An old and new challenge for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Neurology and Neuroscience, 09. https://doi.org/10.21767/2171-6625-c3-013