NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 1 Discussion
DQ1 Get To Know Your Peers
Introduce yourself to your instructor and classmates by recording a one-to two-minute video on Zoom. Please follow How to record using Zoom for recording instructions and post your video file to this discussion forum. Please let us know:
Where you are from
Your experience in health care
Your hobbies
Something about your family
One thing about you that not many people know
Why you are interested in psychiatric nursing
Your career goals
Your course expectations
After your recording is complete, follow these instructions to create an unlisted YouTube video. You will need the YouTube video URL for this discussion. Submit your YouTube video URL. The best way to do this is to copy and paste the hyperlink URL for the YouTube video into a Word document. Your faculty will access your video via the link. Do not upload a video file (mp4).
DQ2 Prescriptive Practice in Psychiatric Nursing
To complete this discussion
Compare the Ted Talk video to the NY Times article by Danial Carlat, Mind Over Meds, and answer the following questions:
How do you view the role of psychiatric medication in the promotion of patient well-being?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a psychopharmacologist versus also integrating psychotherapy in your practice?
What does the literature say (that is, support for or lack of evidence) for integration of therapy and prescribing by the same clinician (APRN or MD)?
Instructions
Carefully read the questions presented.
Reflect on the assigned materials from this week and consider experiences from your own practice to support your ideas. Please use proper citations and APA format.
You may wish to refer to outside sources as well to support your statements.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 2 Discussion
Neurotransmitters
By now, you have chosen your neurotransmitter topic for this discussion forum.
Topic 1: Dopamine
Topic 2: Norepinephrine
Topic 3: Gaba-aminobutyric acid (GABA)
Topic 4: Serotonin
Topic 5: Glutamate
For this discussion, each student will create a four to five slide PowerPoint presentation including voice-over, that will be used to educate your fellow classmates on your assigned topic. Be creative in presenting your topic and include at least two references (in APA format) beyond Stahl for your information.
Please answer the following questions regarding your assigned neurotransmitter topic. Each student is to create a PowerPoint for their assigned topic and submit to this discussion forum when complete.
What is the function of your neurotransmitter?
What is the pathway of origin and projections?
Is your neurotransmitter excitatory or inhibitory?
What behaviors are associated with this neurotransmitter?
Replies
Review your peers' responses and respond to at least two classmates. Please choose neurotransmitters that are different from your chosen topic.
What did you learn about behaviors associated with transmitters?
Compare and constrast your chosen neurotransmitter and your peer’s neurotransmitter.
Please refer to the ?Grading Rubric? for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria that exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 3 Discussion
DQ1 Enzymes
Pharmacokinetic actions are mediated through the hepatic and gut drug-metabolizing system known as the cytochrome P540 (CYP) enzyme system. For this discussion, you will be assigned one of the following enzyme topics.
Topic 1: CYP 1A2 enzyme
Topic 2: CYP 2D6 enzyme
Topic 3: CYP 3A4 enzyme
Your classmates may be assigned the same topic but you will work on this discussion assignment individually.
Your Assigned Topic
You will find your name and assigned topic in the?course announcements.
Steps to Take
Each person will receive one enzyme topic.
Use the learning materials and readings to distill pertinent information regarding your topic.
Answer the questions as they pertain to the enzyme you were assigned. Include at least two references other than Stahl in your answers.
What is your enzyme?
Why is it important?
What does it do in the human body?
What are the common medications that inhibit the enzyme, including any substrates?
What are the important medication restrictions regarding this enzyme?
Initial Post
Once you have created your summary and presentation, submit under the appropriate discussion thread topic. Your initial post should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Reply Posts
View your peers' presentation posts and respond to at least two classmates. In your reply post, answer the following questions:
What did you find interesting about the presentation?
What did you learn from this that you may not have during the reading?
Are there any aspects of this topic that are still unclear? What do you plan to do to fill in these gaps in knowledge?
DQ2 Psychotropic Drugs
Overview
For this assignment, you will choose one psychotropic drug that is metabolized by CYP450 enzymes and complete the following steps:
Create a brief PowerPoint or (Weebly) presentation,?including voice-over, hypothesizing the outcome of prescribing your chosen drug in the presence of its CYP450 inhibitor and inducer.? Note:?Please sign up (free) to use Weebly.
Answer the following questions:
What are examples of drugs that will inhibit and induce the psychotropic drug you chose to study? What will happen, e.g., side effects, symptoms in the patient if the psychotropic drug was prescribed along with either its (1) inhibitor or (2) inducer?
For which CYP450 enzyme/s is it a substrate?
What are the pharmacokinetic considerations when prescribing this medication (absorption, distribution, elimination)? Dietary considerations? Dosing times
Initial Post
Once you have created your summary and presentation, submit under the appropriate discussion thread topic.
Reply Posts (Optional)
View your peers' presentation posts. You may provide an optional reply post if you choose.
Please refer to the? Grading Rubric? for details on how this activity will be graded.
The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 4 Discussion
Psychosis Case Study
Initial Post
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Psychosis (12:29 minutes)
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Psychosis Video Transcript
Follow the steps to complete this discussion:
Watch the video.
Use the readings and references to complete the worksheet, Case Study Questions (Word).
Please use proper citations and APA format.
Post your responses to the questions to this discussion board.
Reply Posts
Critique the decision making of two of your peers in your response posts.
Do you agree/disagree with their medication choice? Why?
Is there anything else you recommend including?
Compare peer's decision making to yours—what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this discussion will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 5 Discussion
Depression Case Study
Initial Post
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Depression (14:44 minutes)
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Depression Video Transcript
Follow the steps to complete this discussion
Watch the video.
Use the readings and references, complete the worksheet, Case Study Questions (Word).
Please use proper citations and APA format.
Post your responses to the questions to this discussion board.
Reply Posts
Critique the decision making of two of your peers in your response post.
Do you agree/disagree with their medication choice? Why?
Is there anything else you recommend including?
Compare peer's decision making to yours—what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this discussion will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 6 Discussion
Depression Scenarios
Initial Post
For this discussion you will build on your treatment plan from Week 5 Discussion1: Depression Case Study. You will be seeing your patient at the six week followup.
Describe your treatment plan for your patient in each of these three scenarios. This means that you will have a treatment plan for each separate scenario.
Your initial post should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Scenarios
There is no response to the medication.
There is a partial response to the medication. Mood has lifted but energy and motivation are still poor.
Mood is improved but the patient has sexual side effects that interfere with quality of life.
Reply Posts
Compare your response to two of your peers. Do you agree with their decision making? What are the pros and cons of their choices? What other suggestions might you offer?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 7 Discussion
Bipolar Case Study
Initial Post
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Mania (9:50 minutes)
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Mania Video Transcript
Follow the steps to complete this discussion
Watch the video.
Use the readings and references to complete the worksheet, Case Study Questions (Word).
Please use proper citations and APA format.
Post your responses to the questions to this discussion board.
Reply Posts
Critique the decision making of two of your peers in your response post.
Do you agree/disagree with their medication choice? Why?
Is there anything else you recommend including?
Compare peer's decision making to yours—what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this discussion will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 8 Discussion
Anxiety Case Study
Initial Post
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Anxiety (12:01 minutes)
Psychiatric Interviews for Teaching: Anxiety Video Transcripts
Follow the steps to complete this discussion
Watch the video.
Use the readings and references to complete the worksheet, Case Study Questions (Word).
Please use proper citations and APA format.
Post your responses to the questions to this discussion board.
Reply Posts
Critique the decision making of two of your peers in your response post:
Do you agree/disagree with their medication choice? Why?
Is there anything else you recommend including?
Compare peer's decision making to yours—what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this discussion will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 9 Discussion
Harold or Greg ADHD Case Study
Initial Post
View the following case study videos and choose one for your discussion post:
Harold Case Study Video
Harold Case Study Video Transcript
Greg Case Study Video
Greg Case Study Video Transcript
You will need to use the following log-in information to access this video (all case sensitive):
Username: RegisNursing
Password: Regis0908
Answer the following questions and post to this discussion forum:
What symptoms of ADHD does your patient present with?
What are other possible causes of his symptoms?
What further information, if any, would you like about this case?
With the assumption that the patient does have ADHD, what medication would you prescribe (list name and dose)? Why?
List any relevant safety information and screening (labs, etc) related to your medication choice.
Your initial post should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Reply Posts
Read your peers' posts and respond to at least two of your peers. In your post, critique your peers responses by answering the following questions:
Compare your peers plan to yours – what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Is there any decision-making with which you disagree?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 10 Discussion
Opioid Use
Initial Post
View the Opioid Use Disorders Video | Opioid Use Disorder Moderate Transcript
You will need to use the following log-in information to access this video (all case sensitive):
Username: RegisNursing
Password: Regis0908
To locate the film, press CTRL + F to bring up a search area in the top right hand corner of the website. Enter F11.20 in the search box. You will see arrows in the search area to scroll through the options. You are looking for F11.20 Opioid Use Disorder; Moderate located under the DSM 5 heading and Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders subheading.
Answer the following questions:
What symptoms of Substance Abuse Disorder does the individual in the video present with?
What are other possible causes of his symptoms?
What additional information would you like to have about this case?
Would you prescribe for this individual? Why or why not?
What would your next steps be for this individual? What would your treatment plan be?
Your initial post should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Reply Posts
Read your peers' posts and respond to at least two of your peers. In your post, critique the plan by answering the following questions:
Do you agree/disagree with the plan?
Is anything missing from the plan?
Compare your peers' plan to yours – what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 11 Discussion
Pediatric Clinical Reference Tool
Initial Post
Choose one group member to upload the Pediatric Clinical Reference Tool for your group to this discussion forum. Please ensure that all group members are listed on the Pediatric Treatment Reference assignment so that everyone in the group will receive a grade for the submission.
Response Post
Please respond individually to at least two peers’ posts.
What are the three most important things you have learned when treating pediatric populations with this disorder?
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 12 Discussion
Geriatric Case Study
Initial Post
E.L. is a 84 year-old-woman who lives in her own home with a full-time caregiver and attends a day program on weekdays. E.L. has a history of bipolar disorder and moderate dementia. At baseline she is cantankerous and opinionated. More recently her caregiver reports that behaviors are agitated and oppositional.
E.L. is refusing most cares, is paranoid that, when her caregiver is on the phone, she is talking about E.L. She has been resisting sleep, staying up late and waking in the middle of the night.
Her caregiver denies aggressive behaviors, but E.L. is arguing with other participants in her day program and is at risk of being kicked out of the program.
Current medications are depakote 1500 mg daily (last level was therapeutic), quetiapine 100 mg qhs, and bupropion 75 mg qd.
Write an assessment and tentative treatment plan. You may use the Assessment and Plan sections from the PMHNP SOAP note template for this, or choose to write this out in a paragraph form. However, both the Assessment and Plan sections must be clearly identified and all components in these sections, as described in the PMHNP SOAP note template, must be included.
Assessment — Identify preliminary diagnoses, supporting information, and target symptoms.
Plan: Tentative treatment plan and rationale.
Using proper citations and APA formatting, you must include references for your statements.
Reply Posts
Read your peers' posts and respond to at least two of your peers. In your post, critique the plan by answering the following questions:
Do you agree/disagree with the plan?
Is anything missing from the plan?
Compare your peers' plan to yours – what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Your response should include evidence of review of the course material through proper citations using APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 13 Discussion
DQ1 Pregnancy and Lactation Research
Initial Post
Note: Consider your prior case studies for Depression in Module 5 and Bipolar Mania in Module 7. Revisit and thoroughly review them.
How would your treatment plan (medications, therapy, etc) change for the pregnant female in Module 5 with Depression and Module 7 with Bipolar Mania?
How would this change if the female were lactating?
What patient teaching would you include?
Please use proper citations and APA format.
Response Post
Review your peers’ responses and respond to at least two classmates.
What did you learn?
Did any topics provoke interest in further learning?
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
DQ2 Choosing the Non-Herbal Topic for the Complementary Treatment Discussion
Initial Post
Identify a non-herbal complementary treatment with purported mental health benefits. Examples include but are not limited to: light boxes, fidget toys, aromatherapy, yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, Qigong, breath exercises, massage, mental health apps, laughter yoga, acupuncture, aerobic exercise, guided imagery, mandalas, labyrinths, foot care, Himalayan salt lamps, etc. You are encouraged to choose a topic of interest to you.
Important!
Only one complementary treatment is to be chosen per student. Before you begin to answer the questions posted in the Week 14 discussion forum, review this discussion board to determine which treatments have already been chosen.
Your initial post is to let your peers know what complementary treatment you are choosing so no one else chooses the same treatment. When you have posted your complementary treatment choice to this discussion board, move on to the Week 14 Discussion 1: Complementary Treatment discussion and complete. Where appropriate, please use proper citations and APA format.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 14 Discussion
Complementary Treatment
Initial Posts
At this point: You should have chosen and posted your non-herbal complementary treatment topic.
For this discussion will complete the following in a one-page summary:
Describe the complementary treatment.
What is it?
What are its proposed benefits?
Are there any risks?
Describe access to the treatment - where do you find it, what are its costs?
Is there evidence for your treatment? Expert opinion? If so, what is it?
Based on your findings would you recommend this treatment? If yes, do you have population-specific recommendations?
Use proper citations with APA format.
Response Post
Review two of your peers’ second posts and create a response for each. What did you find interesting? Is this something you would recommend to a patient? If you would like more information, please describe.
Use proper citations with APA format.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded. The described expectations meet the passing level of 80%. Students are directed to review the Discussion Grading Rubric for criteria which exceed expectations.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 2 Assignment
Neurotransmission
Instructions
Tell a ‘story’ by describing how a neuronal impulse creates a cascade of events to occur within the neuron and between neurons. Imagine that you are explaining how neuronal activation occurs, and what the step-by-step processes are, as you would, to a fellow nurse practitioner that has not specialized in psychiatric nursing but is familiar with medical/biology terminology.
Concepts/words that must be incorporated and explained throughout your ‘story’ includes:
Neurotransmitter
Synaptic Cleft
Receiving Neuron
Signal Transduction Cascade
Voltage-gated and Ligand-ion channels
G-protein-linked Receptor
Agonist, Partial Agonist, Antagonist, and Inverse Agonist and their Role in Signal Transduction
Please follow the Assignment Rubric. The expected length of the submission is 250-500 words and include at least three scholarly references in your work.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 5 Assignment
Depression Treatment Guidelines
Overview
Review the depression treatment guidelines (APA, VA/DoD, NICE) in clinical resources and compare the recommendations. Which guidelines do you find most useful? Least useful? Why? Compare and contrast each of the guidelines, and provide rationale for which one you are most likely to use as a first-line reference tool going forward in your practice.
Instructions
Read the questions for this assignment.
Reflect on what is being asked. Consider the learning materials you learned this week in the course.
Fully answer each of the questions posed to you. It should be 2-3 pages in length, excluding title and reference page, in APA format, with a minimum of 3 peer-reviewed references. Grammar, punctuation and spelling should be appropriate.
Your assignment should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 7 Assignment
Introduction to the PMHNP SOAP Note
Introduction
The PMHNP SOAP note is a tool utilized to guide clinical reasoning to assess, diagnosis, and develop a treatment plan for a patient based on information presented and current evaluation of the patient. These notes serve as an important source of information about the health status of the patient and can be used to communicate this status to other health care professionals.
Instructions
Review the following resources:
SOAP Note Presentation (PowerPoint)
SOAP Note Presentation Transcript
SOAP Note Template (Word)
Complete the SOAP Note Questionnaire and submit to this assignment.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 9 Assignment
Pediatric ADHD Education
Overview
You are meeting with the parents of a child being evaluated for ADHD. For this assignment briefly address the following questions.
What information would you provide to educate parents/caretakers regarding etiology and symptoms of ADHD?
What treatment options would you discuss with the parents/caretakers?
What information/resources would you use to discuss this diagnosis?
Your assignment should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 10 Assignment
Exploration of Bluelight
Overview
Go to BlueLight Discussion Forums
This is a site where addicted individuals share information about drugs of abuse including misuse of many prescription drugs.
Browse, research a recreational or prescription drug.
Post your findings in a brief summary. (150-250 words).
What is "the word on the street?"
Did anything about this surprise you?
No references are required; APA format not required. Appropriate spelling and grammar are required.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 11 Assignment
Pediatric Clinical Reference Tool
Overview
Submit the complete Pediatric Clinical Reference Tool here for individual grading. Each member of each group must submit a copy of their groups Pediatric Treatment Reference for individual grading.
Your assignment should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 14 Assignment
Continuing Education Plan
Overview
With a well thought out plan, you can achieve virtually any goal you set for yourself. And making a plan is crucial for continuing your education to build further skills and knowledge that can be applied to your work.
For this assignment, you are going to develop a plan for continuing education in psychopharmacology. The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize you with continuing education materials and to begin developing habits that will keep your psychopharmacology skills and knowledge up to date.
Familiarize yourself with various learning resources and continuing education opportunities including but not limited to reference books, clinical journals, newsletters, professional organizations, conferences, CME events, local psychiatry grand rounds, psychiatry podcasts (several universities podcast their grand rounds).
Identify the resources that you find most useful. What do you like about them?
Which resources are appropriate for use on a routine basis for point of care clinical information?
Which resources are helpful for staying current with emerging information in psychopharmacology?
Which resources are useful for in depth learning on topics of interest?
What is the feasibility of these resources in terms of cost, time and travel?
Develop a continuing education plan. This is your commitment to independent learning. Identify the actions that you plan to take:
On a routine basis, when questions arise at point of care.
On a weekly or monthly basis - subscriptions, online readings, etc.
On an annual basis, such as conferences or symposiums.
Include resources that will provide a meet a variety of learning needs - guide clinical decision making at point of care, provide current information on new drugs or new safety information and deepen your understanding of particular topics.
Write a summary of your plan. How do your chosen resources support your learning goals? Why did you choose them?
Please provide references and links to your educational resources.
Submit your plan to Moodle.
The main ideas are to:
Identify your psychopharmacology learning goals. Research available resources including journals, newsletters, lecture series (such as grand rounds), conferences. Then, create a learning plan to meet your learning goals.
Note when you would like to complete each goal and the feasibility of the time range.
Note future plans for your continuing education that would allow to reach your goals.
Your assignment should be in APA format with evidence-based references to support your statements.
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
NU643 Advanced Psychopharmacology
Week 15 Assignment
Current Trends and Topics
Select either pharmacogenetics or telemedicine as your topic of discussion using this week’s learning materials.
How is this practiced in your state?
Is this practice currently allowed in your state?
Do you see a role for your future practice?
What is your personal perspective on the application of this practice in the provision of psychiatric care?
Please refer to the Grading Rubric for details on how this activity will be graded.
