Ethical and Legal Implications of Prescribing Drugs

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.  

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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.

By Day 7 of Week 1

Write a 2- to 3-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.

Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The College of Nursing Writing Template with Instructions provided at the Walden Writing Center offers an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632). All papers submitted must use this formatting.

 For this assignment, you will research and prepare a community-level strategic plan that addresses a key public health issue.Potential topics may include:

• Using prenatal and infancy home visits to prevent child abuse and neglect
• Preventing falls in the elderly
• Reducing population salt intake
• Reducing tobacco use among adults
• Preventing risky sexual behavior among youth and young adults
• Reducing drug experimentation among young adults

Include the following in your paper:

• Introduction:
  • Provide an overview of the community health issue as described in Part A with identified causes and influences, including knowledge gaps. 
  • Detail the prevalence of the issue inside and outside the United States.
  • Describe potential monetary costs associated with the issue in the United States.
  • You must include data as part of your introduction (images, charts, graphs, etc., may be included as well as written data).
• Describe advance practice roles and management strategies that affect change at the community level.
• Identify key community and social resources that negatively and positively affect the selected issue.
• Identify changes or enhancements in community-related services for your selected topic.
• Develop a strategic plan that could decrease the prevalence of your selected topic.The goals for this plan needs to be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. Include how your plan takes into consideration health literacy, socioeconomic factors, and cultural differences.
• Conclusion:
  • A summary of the goals and challenges
  • An assessment of the outlook for action/progress
• Appendix A: Include your community assessment from Week 3 as Appendix A.

Your paper should be 3–5 pages in length (not including the cover or reference pages). Use APA throughout.Include 2–3 scholarly sources that are carefully selected and appropriate to the topic. References should be current—no more than four years old.Due: Sunday, 11:59 p.m. (Pacific time)Points: 110Review the rubric for further information on how your assignment will be graded.Before you begin, review some strategic plans to garner ideas for developing your own strategic plan.ACL strategic plan (2018–2022) (Links to an external site.)A strategic plan to make improvements in the network of community-based long term care and supportive services for older adults and adults with disabilities in San Francisco 

 Refer to Chapter 9 of the textbook and identify one potential problem in health care. Use the five-stage model for approaching problem solving by Wheatley. What is the aspect of this situation that you think is most important? What new learning did you experience?  Which things get in the way of solutions? How will we work together? 

Magnet designated hospitals must have a theoretical model that guides care. Every staff member must be oriented on that theory and its application in the facility. As nursing scholars, you may be called upon to guide your colleagues in this adventure. In this exercise, describe any experience you have had in implementing a facility designated theoretical model. If you have not, find an article that describes the implementation of a theoretical model in a facility and summarize the article for the class.

Expectations

• Length: A minimum of 250 words, not including references
• Citations: At least one high-level scholarly reference in APA from within the last 5 years
• Due 5/8/21

In 750-1,000 words, critically evaluate Mrs. J.’s situation. Include the following:

1. Describe the clinical manifestations present in Mrs. J.
2. Discuss whether the nursing interventions at the time of her admissions were appropriate for Mrs. J. and explain the rationale for each of the medications listed.
3. Describe four cardiovascular conditions that may lead to heart failure and what can be done in the form of medical/nursing interventions to prevent the development of heart failure in each condition.
4. Taking into consideration the fact that most mature adults take at least six prescription medications, discuss four nursing interventions that can help prevent problems caused by multiple drug interactions in older patients. Provide a rationale for each of the interventions you recommend.
5. Provide a health promotion and restoration teaching plan for Mrs. J., including multidisciplinary resources for rehabilitation and any modifications that may be needed. Explain how the rehabilitation resources and modifications will assist the patients’ transition to independence.
6. Describe a method for providing education for Mrs. J. regarding medications that need to be maintained to prevent future hospital admission. Provide rationale.
7. Outline COPD triggers that can increase exacerbation frequency, resulting in return visits. Considering Mrs. J.’s current and long-term tobacco use, discuss what options for smoking cessation should be offered.

You are required to cite to a minimum of two sources to complete this assignment. Sources must be published within the last 5 years and appropriate for the assignment criteria and relevant to nursing practice.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. 

This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.