As an advanced practice nurse assisting physicians in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders, it is important to not only understand the impact of disorders on the body, but also the impact of drug treatments on the body. The relationships between drugs and the body can be described by pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.

Pharmacokinetics describes what the body does to the drug through absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion, whereas pharmacodynamics describes what the drug does to the body.

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When selecting drugs and determining dosages for patients, it is essential to consider individual patient factors that might impact the patient’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes. These patient factors include genetics, gender, ethnicity, age, behavior (i.e., diet, nutrition, smoking, alcohol, illicit drug abuse), and/or pathophysiological changes due to disease.

For this Discussion, you reflect on a case from your past clinical experiences and consider how a patient’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes may alter his or her response to a drug.

To Prepare

• Review the Resources for this module and consider the principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
• Reflect on your experiences, observations, and/or clinical practices from the last 5 years and think about how pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic factors altered his or her anticipated response to a drug.
• Consider factors that might have influenced the patient’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes, such as genetics (including pharmacogenetics), gender, ethnicity, age, behavior, and/or possible pathophysiological changes due to disease.
• Think about a personalized plan of care based on these influencing factors and patient history in your case study.

By Day 3 of Week 1

Post a description of the patient case from your experiences, observations, and/or clinical practice from the last 5 years. Then, describe factors that might have influenced pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes of the patient you identified. Finally, explain details of the personalized plan of care that you would develop based on influencing factors and patient history in your case. Be specific and provide examples.

Assignment Content

1. Select a health care setting you want to focus on for your sustainability initiative (e.g., local hospital, veterans hospital, ambulance service, urgent care, nursing home, etc.). 

   Analyze the setting you have selected and break it down to the main departments, employee roles, operating activities, etc. While doing so, brainstorm opportunities to reduce costs or eliminate waste while improving patient care or outcomes.

   Review the list of sustainable initiatives from the list below, and select one that you want to promote for your course project:

   • Energy efficiency
   • Lighting
   • IR scanning
   • Cogeneration
   • Kanban Inventory
   • Device exchange
   • CR pack reformation
   • Device reprocessing
   • Red bag waste reduction
   • Blue wrap recycling
   • Note: Ensure that the opportunity you select correlates with the setting you select. Additionally, if you want to complete a sustainable initiative that is not on the list, obtain approval from your instructor before completing the assignment.

     Identify data sources you might need to collect and analyze for your initiative. Consider contacting people in the industry and at your organization who may be able to help.

     Write a 525- to 700-word proposal of the sustainability initiative you want to promote at the health care setting you selected. Your proposal should:

   • Create a clear vision or mission statement that defines the scope of the initiative and would generate buy-in.
   • Define what outcomes you expect to achieve over time.
   • Be specific with what you can realistically deliver.
   • Cite 3 reputable references to support your assignment (e.g., trade or industry publications, government or agency websites, scholarly works, or other sources of similar quality).

     Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.
      

Simple question very quick

1. A 24-year-old Pakistani immigrant woman has given birth to a healthy boy. She expresses sadness that her family cannot be there to see him. The nurse is confused about why the mother is not happy.

• a.   What is the cultural context of her sadness?
• b. What can the nurse do to assist her?

2.A 55-year-old man is hospitalized for an opportunistic infection and asks for his partner to be with him overnight. He stated that previous hospitals did not allow his partner to visit and that is why he chose your hospital.

• a.   What are the ethical issues and what framework would you use to analyze the situation?
• b. Describe the research that may support the request.

Submission Instructions:

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources.

1.  A family is gathered around in the ICU waiting room to monitor the status of a 22-year-old male, David, who sustained traumatic injuries in a motorcycle accident. He is in critical unstable condition with many wounds and severe abrasions. David’s mom keeps crying and saying, “What did I do to deserve this, God?” The family is Roman Catholic.

• a.   What information should you ask the family regarding their culture, beliefs, and coping mechanisms?
• b. The family wants to be at the bedside with David and requests to be present if he has a code blue or becomes asystolic.
• c. What is your best response to their request?

2.  A 45-year-old divorced Filipino man with end-stage Alzheimer’s disease was found dead from hanging. While preparing the body for the morgue, the mother tells the nurse that he has disgraced the family and he will go to hell.

• a.   What religious or spiritual beliefs influenced the mother’s reaction?
• b. How should the nurse respond to the mother?

Submission Instructions:

• Your initial post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources. 

Use the Episodic/Focused SOAP Template and create an episodic/focused note about the patient in the case study to which you were assigned using the episodic/focused note template provided in the  resources. Provide evidence from the literature to support diagnostic tests that would be appropriate for each case. List five different possible conditions for the patient’s differential diagnosis, and justify why you selected each.