What type of drug should you prescribe based on your patient’s diagnosis? How much of the drug should the patient receive? How often should the drug be administered? When should the drug not be prescribed? Are there individual patient factors that could create complications when taking the drug? Should you be prescribing drugs to this patient? How might different state regulations affect the prescribing of this drug to this patient?

These are some of the questions you might consider when selecting a treatment plan for a patient.  

As an advanced practice nurse prescribing drugs, you are held accountable for people’s lives every day. Patients and their families will often place trust in you because of your position. With this trust comes power and responsibility, as well as an ethical and legal obligation to “do no harm.” It is important that you are aware of current professional, legal, and ethical standards for advanced practice nurses with prescriptive authority. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the treatment plans and administration/prescribing of drugs is in accordance with the regulations of the state in which you practice. Understanding how these regulations may affect the prescribing of certain drugs in different states may have a significant impact on your patient’s treatment plan. In this Assignment, you explore ethical and legal implications of scenarios and consider how to appropriately respond.

To Prepare

• Review the Resources for this module and consider the legal and ethical implications of prescribing prescription drugs,      disclosure, and nondisclosure.
• Review the scenario assigned by your Instructor for this Assignment.
• Search specific laws and standards for prescribing prescription drugs and for addressing medication errors for your state or region, and reflect on these as you review the scenario assigned by your      Instructor.
• Consider the ethical and legal implications of the scenario for all stakeholders involved, such as the prescriber,      pharmacist, patient, and patient’s family.
• Think about two strategies that you, as an advanced practice nurse, would use to guide your ethically and legally responsible decision-making in this scenario, including whether you would disclose any medication errors.

Write a 3- to 4-page paper that addresses the following:

• Explain the ethical and legal implications of the scenario you selected on all stakeholders involved, such as 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. Be sure to justify your explanation. 
• Explain the process of writing prescriptions, including strategies to minimize medication errors.

Rosenthal, L. D., & Burchum, J. R. (2021). Lehne’s pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice nurses and physician assistants (2nd ed.) St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.

· Chapter 1, “Prescriptive Authority” (pp. 1–3)

· Chapter 2, “Rational Drug Selection and Prescription Writing” (pp. 4–7)

· Chapter 3, “Promoting Positive Outcomes of Drug Therapy” (pp. 8–12)

· Chapter 4, “Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, and Drug Interactions” (pp. 13–33)

· Chapter 5, “Adverse Drug Reactions and Medication Errors” (pp. 34–42)

· Chapter 6, “Individual Variation in Drug Response” (pp. 43–45)

American Geriatrics Society 2019 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. (2019). American Geriatrics Society 2019 updated AGS Beers criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 67(4), 674–694. doi:10.1111/jgs.15767

American Geriatrics Society 2019 updated AGS Beers criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults by American Geriatrics Society, in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Vol. 67/Issue 4. Copyright 2019 by Blackwell Publishing. Reprinted by permission of Blackwell Publishing via the Copyright Clearance Center.

This article is an update to the Beers Criteria, which includes lists of potentially inappropriate medications to be avoided in older adults as well as newly added criteria that lists select drugs that should be avoided or have their dose adjusted based on the individual’s kidney function and select drug-drug interactions documented to be associated with harms in older adults.

Drug Enforcement Administration. (n.d.-a). Code of federal regulations. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/21cfr/cfr/1300/1300_01.htm

This website outlines the code of federal regulations for prescription drugs.

Drug Enforcement Administration. (n.d.-b). Mid-level practitioners authorization by state. Retrieved May 13, 2019 from http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/practioners/index.html

This website outlines the schedules for controlled substances, including prescriptive authority for each schedule.

Drug Enforcement Administration. (2006). Practitioner’s manual. Retrieved from http://www.legalsideofpain.com/uploads/pract_manual090506.pdf
This manual is a resource for practitioners who prescribe, dispense, and administer controlled substances. It provides information on general requirements, security issues, recordkeeping, prescription requirements, and addiction treatment programs.

Drug Enforcement Administration. (n.d.-c). Registration. Retrieved February 1, 2019, from https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drugreg/index.html

This website details key aspects of drug registration.

Fowler, M. D. M., & American Nurses Association. (2015). Guide to the Code of Ethics for Nurses with Interpretive Statements: Development, Interpretation, and Application (2nd ed.). Silver Spring, Maryland: American Nurses Association.

This resource introduces the code of ethics for nurses and highlights critical aspects for ethical guideline development, interpretation, and application in practice.

Institute for Safe Medication Practices. (2017). List of error-prone abbreviations, symbols, and dose designations. Retrieved from https://www.ismp.org/recommendations/error-prone-abbreviations-list

This website provides a list of prescription-writing abbreviations that might lead to misinterpretation, as well as suggestions for preventing resulting errors.

Ladd, E., & Hoyt, A. (2016). Shedding light on nurse practitioner prescribing. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 12(3), 166–173. doi:10.1016/j.nurpra.2015.09.17

This article provides NPs with information regarding state-based laws for NP prescribing.

Sabatino, J. A., Pruchnicki, M. C., Sevin, A. M., Barker, E., Green, C. G., & Porter, K. (2017). Improving prescribing practices: A pharmacist‐led educational intervention for nurse practitioner students. Journal of the American Association of nurse practitioners, 29(5), 248–254. doi:10.1002/2327-6924.12446

The authors of this article assess the impact of a pharmacist‐led educational intervention on family nurse practitioner (FNP) students’ prescribing skills, perception of preparedness to prescribe, and perception of pharmacist as collaborator.

 As a nurse practitioner, you prescribe medications for your patients. You make an error when prescribing medication to a 5-year-old patient. Rather than dosing him appropriately, you prescribe a dose suitable for an adult. 

State of Florida 

 

Assignment: Assessing a Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation

Program/policy evaluation is a valuable tool that can help strengthen the quality of programs/policies and improve outcomes for the populations they serve. Program/policy evaluation answers basic questions about program/policy effectiveness. It involves collecting and analyzing information about program/policy activities, characteristics, and outcomes. This information can be used to ultimately improve program services or policy initiatives.

Nurses can play a very important role assessing program/policy evaluation for the same reasons that they can be so important to program/policy design. Nurses bring expertise and patient advocacy that can add significant insight and impact. In this Assignment, you will practice applying this expertise and insight by selecting an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation and reflecting on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program/policy.

To Prepare:

• Review the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template provided in the Resources.
• Select an existing healthcare program or policy evaluation or choose one of interest to you.
• Review community, state, or federal policy evaluation and reflect on the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of the program or policy described.

The Assignment: (2–3 pages)

Based on the program or policy evaluation you selected, complete the Healthcare Program/Policy Evaluation Analysis Template. Be sure to address the following:

• Describe the healthcare program or policy outcomes.
• How was the success of the program or policy measured?
• How many people were reached by the program or policy selected?
• How much of an impact was realized with the program or policy selected?
• At what point in program implementation was the program or policy evaluation conducted?
• What data was used to conduct the program or policy evaluation?
• What specific information on unintended consequences was identified?
• What stakeholders were identified in the evaluation of the program or policy? Who would benefit most from the results and reporting of the program or policy evaluation? Be specific and provide examples.
• Did the program or policy meet the original intent and objectives? Why or why not?
• Would you recommend implementing this program or policy in your place of work? Why or why not?
• Identify at least two ways that you, as a nurse advocate, could become involved in evaluating a program or policy after 1 year of implementation.

 

Instructions

This is part 3 of your evidence-based practice project. 

In this assignment, you will refer back to assignment you completed in week 4, as this assignment will build upon it.

For this assignment, you will re-review your three articles selected from your week 2 and 4 assignment. Then, you’ll write a paper on the following (be sure to include the content from your previous papers in weeks 2 and 4, updating with feedback from your instructor).

For each of the three articles, please discuss the following in your paper:

• Research design of the study
• Threats to external/internal validity
• Potential legal/ethical issues within the article
• Data analysis (be sure to elaborate on this more from your paper in week 4, providing specifics about the results)
• Implications for evidence-based practice and how this article could be used to make an evidence-based change
• Conclusion/summary of the evidence

Remember to support your ideas with the articles you found. These articles should be less than five (5) years old. They should not be from the Web, but from the library databases, and be sure to use a narrative format.

In addition, you must follow APA guidelines, providing a title page, reference page, appendix, and in-text citations, as well as use level headings to match the assignment criteria listed above.

Please use, at minimum three scholarly references, and your paper should be 500-700 words, excluding title and reference pages.

Please review the rubric to ensure that your assignment meets criteria.

This assignment builds on the Risk Management Program Analysis – Part One assignment you completed in Topic 1 of this course.

Assume that the sample risk management program you analyzed in Topic 1 was implemented and is now currently in use by your health care employer/organization. Further assume that your supervisor has asked you to create a high‐level summary brief of this new risk management program to share with a group of administrative personnel from a newly created community health organization in your state who has enlisted your organization’s assistance in developing their own risk management policies and procedures.

Compose a 1,250‐1,500 word summary brief that expands upon the elements you first addressed in the Topic 1 assignment. In this summary brief, address the following points regarding your health care organization and its risk management program:

1. Explain the role of your organization’s MIPPA-approved accreditation body (e.g., JC, ACR, IAC) in the evaluation of your institution’s quality improvement and risk management processes.
2. Describe the roles that different levels of administrative personnel play in healthcare ethics and establishing or sustaining employer/employee-focused organizational risk management strategies and operational policies.
3. Illustrate how your organization’s risk management and compliance programs support ethical standards, patient consent, and patient rights and responsibilities.
4. Explain the legal and ethical responsibilities health care professionals face in upholding risk management policies and administering safe health care at your organization.
5. Relate how your organization’s quality improvement processes support and contribute to its overall journey to excellence.

In addition to your textbook, you are required to support your analysis with a minimum of three peer‐reviewed references.

PICOT Formulation

As a practice scholar, the interdisciplinary team you are leading develops the below two practice questions in PICOT format to drive practice change.

Practice Question 1: Does motivational interviewing during a regularly scheduled well-child visit for children between 5-19 years with a BMI of 30 and above as compared to practice as usual, influence BMI, BP, quality of life, and daily physical activity over 8-10 weeks?

• Identify the PICOT elements.
• What are key search terms identified in the practice question?

Conduct a library search using these search terms to locate a research study addressing this practice problem and consider the following.

• What is the research-evidence based intervention addressed in the study?
• What is the quantifiable outcome(s)? How will the outcome(s) be measured? What potential reliable and valid measurements/tools may be used to measure this quantifiable data?
• Is this practice question answerable within 8-10 weeks? Why or why not?

Practice Question 2: In the adult critical care population, does a research-based skin care integrity bundle, compared to standard care, influence the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure injuries over an 8-10 week time period?

• Identify the PICOT elements.
• What are key search terms identified in the practice question?

Conduct a library search using these search terms to locate a research study addressing this practice problem and consider the following.

• What is the research-evidence based intervention in the study?
• What is the quantifiable outcome(s)? How will the outcome(s) be measured? What potential reliable and valid measurements/tools may be used to measure this quantifiable data?
• Is this practice question answerable within 8-10 weeks? Why or why not?