Examine antipsychotic therapies, you explore the assessment and treatment of clients with psychosis and schizophrenia.
Assignment: Examine Antipsychotic Therapies

Examine antipsychotic therapies, you explore the assessment and treatment of clients with psychosis and schizophrenia. You also consider the ethical and legal implications of these therapies
This week, as you examine antipsychotic therapies, you explore the assessment and treatment of clients with psychosis and schizophrenia. You also consider the ethical and legal implications of these therapies.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 100,000 people experience psychosis in the United States each year (NAMI, 2016). In practice, clients may present with delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, disorganized or abnormal motor behavior, as well as other negative symptoms that can be disabling for these individuals. Not only are these symptoms one of the most challenging symptom clusters you will encounter, but many are also associated with other disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and disorders on the schizophrenia spectrum. As a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner, you must understand the underlying neurobiology of these symptoms to select appropriate therapies and improve outcomes for clients.

Assignment: Assessing and Treating Clients With Psychosis and Schizophrenia

Psychosis and schizophrenia greatly impact the brain’s normal processes, which interferes with the ability to think clearly. When symptoms of these disorders are uncontrolled, clients may struggle to function in daily life. However, clients often thrive when properly diagnosed and treated under the close supervision of a psychiatric mental health practitioner. For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients presenting with psychosis and schizophrenia.

Learning Objectives

Students will: Explore the assessment and treatment of clients with schizophrenia

· Assess client factors and history to develop personalized plans of antipsychotic therapy for clients

· Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring antipsychotic therapy

· Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans

· Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing antipsychotic therapy to clients across the lifespan

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Note: All Stahl resources can be accessed through the Walden Library using this link. This link will take you to a log-in page for the Walden Library. Once you log into the library, the Stahl website will appear.

Stahl, S. M. (2013). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical applications (4th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access the following chapters, click on the Essential Psychopharmacology, 4th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate chapter. Be sure to read all sections on the left navigation bar for each chapter.

· Chapter 4, “Psychosis and Schizophrenia”

· Chapter 5, “Antipsychotic Agents”

Stahl, S. M. (2014b). The prescriber’s guide (5th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access information on the following medications, click on The Prescriber’s Guide, 5th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the appropriate medication.

Review the following medications:

amisulpride
aripiprazole
asenapine
chlorpromazine
clozapine
flupenthixol
fluphenazine
haloperidol
iloperidone
loxapine
lurasidone
olanzapine
paliperidone
perphenazine
quetiapine
risperidone
sulpiride
thioridazine
thiothixene
trifluoperazine
ziprasidone
Naber, D., & Lambert, M. (2009). The CATIE and CUtLASS studies in schizophrenia: Results and implications for clinicians. CNS Drugs, 23(8), 649-659. doi:10.2165/00023210-200923080-00002

Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Kay, S. R., Fiszbein, A., & Opler, L. A. (1987). The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 13(2), 261-276.

Note: Retrieved from Walden Library databases.

Clozapine REMS. (2015). Clozapine REMS: The single shared system for clozapine. Retrieved from https://www.clozapinerems.com/CpmgClozapineUI/rems/pdf/resources/Clozapine_REMS_A_Guide_for_Healthcare_Providers.pdf

Walden University. (2016). ASC success strategies: Studying for and taking a test. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ASCsuccess/ASCtesting

Required Media

Laureate Education. (2016j). Case study: Pakistani woman with delusional thought processes [Interactive media file]. Baltimore, MD: Author

Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this week’s Assignment.

Optional Resources

Chakos, M., Patel, J. K., Rosenheck, R., Glick, I. D., Hammer, M. B., Tapp, A., & … Miller, D. (2011). Concomitant psychotropic medication use during treatment of schizophrenia patients: Longitudinal results from the CATIE study. Clinical Schizophrenia & Related Psychoses, 5(3), 124-134. doi:10.3371/CSRP.5.3.2

Fangfang, S., Stock, E. M., Copeland, L. A., Zeber, J. E., Ahmedani, B. K., & Morissette, S. B. (2014). Polypharmacy with antipsychotic drugs in patients with schizophrenia: Trends in multiple health care systems. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 71(9), 728-738. doi:10.2146/ajhp130471

Lin, L. A., Rosenheck, R., Sugar, C., & Zbrozek, A. (2015). Comparing antipsychotic treatments for schizophrenia: A health state approach. The Psychiatric Quarterly, 86(1), 107-121. doi:10.1007/s11126-014-9326-2

To prepare for this Assignment:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how to assess and treat clients requiring anxiolytic therapy.

The Assignment

Examine Case Study: Pakistani Woman with Delusional Thought Processes. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the client’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes.

At each decision point stop to complete the following:

· Decision #1

o Which decision did you select?

o Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

· Decision #2

o Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

· Decision #3

o Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.

o Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

Also include how ethical considerations might impact your treatment plan and communication with clients.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

Assignment: Examine Antipsychotic Therapies