Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Please respond to this 2 scenarios with 2 APA style each response:
Post 1
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Understanding Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics is crucial because medication therapy plays a crucial role in improving human health by enhancing the quality of life and extending life expectance when prescribers properly use and administer. By applying knowledge of Pharmacokinetics to drug therapy, we can help maximize beneficial effects and minimize harm (Rosenthal & Burchum 2021).
Description of the patient case from your experiences, observations, and/or clinical practice from the last 5 years.
I have witnessed and heard of many incidents of medication errors during my practice, whereby such incidents have led to extended patient hospitalization and even near-death occurrences. Many medication errors occur because nurses use medical abbreviations and lack a proper understanding of the medication dosages and frequency of administration. These abbreviations, symbols, and dose designations should never be used when communicating medical information verbally, electronically, and in handwritten applications (Ladd & Hoyt, 2016).
An 86-year-old female patient with acute kidney injury is recovering from left hip surgery was receiving care in PACU. The anesthesiologist ordered fentanyl 50mcg intravenous every 5 mins for postop pain management. I was precepting a new nurse when I witnessed the new nurse in PACU scan 100 mcg of fentanyl and administer the full dose. Immediately upon administration, the patient lost consciousness, and the airway was obstructed; oxygen was desaturated to 72%. We had to quickly place the patient on a 10L oxygen facemask, insert a nasal trump, and do upward jaw thrusts to open the airway. It took 10 mins before the patient’s oxygen level increased and the patient regained consciousness.
Factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in patients
According to Rosenthal & Burchum (2021), Pharmacokinetics studies drug movement throughout the body. As advanced nurse practitioners, it is essential to understand four basic pharmacokinetic processes: absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. The purpose of Pharmacokinetics and the pharmacodynamic process is to get the current dose of the drug, at the right time to the site of action where it can produce its desired effect. Giving the wrong dose of medication to the elderly patient can cause a detrimental effect on the patient, which was the case with the scenario that I witnessed. Therefore age, gender, diet, environment, and body weight can influence the outcome of medication administration.
Details of the personalized plan of care that you would develop based on influencing factors and patient history in your case.
In regard to medication administration, new nurses and interns have a low understanding of pharmacological implications (Myroniak & Elder, 2021). I agree with this observation because the new nurse in PACU did not understand the effects of administering 100mcg fentanyl at once, instead of the safe dose of 50mcg ordered by the anesthesiologists. Developing a plan of care to teach all new nurses in PACU on the safe administration of immediate postop analgesics and factoring in patient age. Clear communication and understanding must be established between the prescribers and those administering the medications. Well‐prepared prescribers would be expected to make fewer prescribing errors, leading to fewer preventable adverse drug events and a reduction in delays initiating or optimizing drug therapy (Sabatino et al., 2017). In conclusion, the detailed plan of care developed was to ensure that new nurses give no medication without demonstrating a clear understanding of the current dose, route, time, frequency, and the possible side effects of the medication.
References
Ladd, E., & Hoyt, A. (2016). Shedding light on nurse practitioner prescribing. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 12(3), 166–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2015.09.017
Myroniak, K., & Elder, S. (2021). Improving safe medication administration in new rns using simulation. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 52(1), 30–33. https://doi.org/10.3928/00220124-20201215-08
Rosenthal, L. D., & Burchum, J. R. (2021). Lehne’s pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice nurses and physician assistants (2nd ed.) St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Sabatino, J. A., Pruchnicki, M. C., Sevin, A. M., Barker, E., Green, C. G., & Porter, K. (2017). Improving prescribing practices. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 29(5), 248–254. https://doi.org/10.1002/2327-6924.12446
