Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example

Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example

            It is estimated that about 120 million Americans have at least one or more chronic diseases (Brown et al., 2016). The chronicity of the disease calls for medication over the patient’s lifespan for effective management and control. Healthcare providers also acknowledge that with more than half of the chronic disease patients not adhering to the prescribed medication, improving medication adherence may significantly impact the population’s health more than the discovery of new therapy. Improving patient adherence to mental health conditions by managing the medications’ side effects would significantly improve their health outcomes. (Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example)

A common Side Effect and a Potential way to manage it for the Selected Medications

Amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant approved by FDA to treat depression in persons whose side effects include weight gain, dizziness, and xerostomia. To reduce dizziness, a physician may recommend the patient start the medication at a low dose and gradually increase it (Thour & Marwaha, 2020). Bupropion is another medication used to treat major depression with several side effects, suicide ideation. Like any other antidepressant, the patient is advised to gradually taper down the dose by incrementally reducing the dose over 7- 14 days. Fluoxetine is another SSRI commonly prescribed as an antidepressant with side effects ranging from diarrhea to dry mouth and sexual dysfunction. Wang (2018) opines that the patient is advised to have a side effects management plan where diarrhea and other gastrointestinal side effects can be managed by adjusting the dose and changing the doses like taking after meals. Due to this post’s limited scope, the fourth and last antidepressant to be addressed is Paroxetine, whose side effects include but are not limited to blurred vision, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, and dry mouth. To manage sleeplessness, the patient is advised to nap in the daytime and get some physical activity like walking.(Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example)

Difference between Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (NMS) and Serotonin Syndrome

By definition, NMS is a rare but fatal reaction to the use of prescribed antipsychotics characterized by high fever, muscle stiffness, and altered mental status after taking neuroleptics like thioridazine, haloperidol, and perphenazine (Turner et al., 2019). On the other hand, SS describes a patient’s body as having too much Serotonin due to the administration of some medicationmanifesting through a triad of symptoms of altered mental status, movement disorders, and autonomic dysfunction. Once the mental health provider has made the appropriate diagnosis, NSM treats muscle relaxants like dantrolene and dopamine stimulators like bromocriptine. Besides the withdrawal of the offending medication, benzodiazepine may be used to treat agitation with moderate and severe cases calling for hospitalization (Katus & Frucht, 2016). In the case of Post-partum depression, physicians may prescribe Bupropion and Escitalopram in the same way the SSRIs are deemed to be the best among the elderly patients. These include citalopram, sertraline and escitalopram.(Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example)

Prescribing Guidelines of Benzodiazepines in Connecticut State

According to Schrile & McCabe (2016) note, Connecticut is of the States where APRNs do not have independent prescribing for APRNS. However, the Connecticut law gives APRNS a license to collaborate with a physician for the last three years and a minimum of 2,000 hours of such collaborative practice.(Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example)

As indicated in the introductory section, improving adherence to medication adherence in all diseases, not just chronic diseases like mental health diseases, is bound to impact population health than novel treatments significantly.(Addressing Side Effects for Patient Adherence to Medication comprehensive nursing paper example)