It’s imperative that nurses have a solid understanding of pharmacology and potentially fatal drug interactions. Nursing care is an integral role in administering medication to patients.

Case Study- Pharmacology and Nursing Care

The patient case you are working on is for a 76-year-old female who has a case of sepsis of unknown origin. The medical emergency response team evaluates the patient for potential stroke and new-onset confusion.

The neurologist assessed the patient and ruled out a stroke, but the patient was newly confused without explanation. After reviewing the chart, within twenty-four hours, the patient had received their regular medications from home, as well as two doses of vancomycin and one dose of cefepime, both given intravenously. The patient had no history of confusion and did not receive any medications for sleep, pain, or sedation. The patient has a slightly elevated creatinine of 1.9, and the liver function panel was somewhat high, but it was not a great concern to the team to cause encephalopathy.

Pharmacology Questions

1 Write a paper that addresses the following:

Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders involved. These may include, the prescriber, pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.

Describe strategies to address disclosure and nondisclosure as identified in the scenario you selected. Be sure to reference laws specific to your state.

Explain two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your decision-making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose your error. Additionally, justify your explanation.

Lastly, explain the process of writing prescriptions, including strategies to minimize medication errors.

Case Study 2

Sabrina is a 26-year-old female who has a case of ‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‌‍‍‍‌multiple sclerosis. She has an appointment for a follow-up with her physician but has several questions about her diagnosis and is calling the Nurse Helpline for her hospital network. As she talks with the advanced practice nurse, she learns that her diagnosis also impacts her neurologic and musculoskeletal systems. Although multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disorder, both the neurologic and musculoskeletal systems will be affected by adverse symptoms that Sabrina needs to be aware of and for which specific drug therapy plans and other treatment options need to be decided on.

Having knowledge in pharmacology, what types of drugs will best address potential neurologic and musculoskeletal symptoms Sabrina might experience?

Nursing Care Questions

Briefly summarize the patient case study, including each of the three decisions you took for the patient.

From your recommendations for the patient case study, explain whether you believe the decisions were supported by the evidence-based literature. Be specific and provide examples. Furthermore, support your response with evidence and references from outside resources.

What were you hoping to achieve with the decisions you recommended for the patient case study you were assigned?

Support your response with evidence and references from outside resources.

Lastly, explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with each of the decisions and the results of the decision in the exercise. Describe whether they were different. Be specific and provide examples.

Additional Files