Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
This first week we have a Discussion and an Assignment. For the Discussion you will think of a situation you have experienced. Please see the instructions for details.
You may have looked at the rubric regarding grading for both the Discussion posts as well as the Assignments that will be done during this course. I do follow both of these grading schematics. What I am looking for in both is as follows:
- Content is very important to me, so I want you to make sure that your posts and writings for assignments are substantial and are from credible sources (i.e., textbook, publications, etc.). Sources such as drugs.com, Medscape.com, etc., can be used, but they CANNOT be the only sources you have. The latter are set up as information sites only and will not always be accurate.
- 2. In your discussions, as well as assignments, you should be focusing on the medication parts of the assignment. This is a pharmacology class, so I want you to be researching how the disease is treated, why those treatments the best for the specific disease state, what complications come from treatment, how to avert possible problems with treatment, how to deal with comorbidities during treatments, etc. This is not all inclusive, but some of the things I want you to be thinking about. This will help ensure that you will get the most out of this class and sharpen your reasoning skills as to why certain treatments are used once you are in practice. Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
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Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
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.
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. Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
- 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.
By Day 6 of Week 1
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by suggesting additional patient factors that might have interfered with the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes of the patients they described. In addition, suggest how the personalized plan of care might change if the age of the patient were different and/or if the patient had a comorbid condition, such as renal failure, heart failure, or liver failure.
Main post-45 (45%) – 50 (50%)
Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.
Supported by at least three current, credible sources.
Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style. Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
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Solution
Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of different medications are very important to understand before making prescriptions for patients. Rosenthal &Burchum (2018) describe pharmacokinetics as the study of drug movement within the body and pharmacodynamics as the study of drug effects produced in the body, both biochemical and physiological, after consumption.
Pharmacokinetics studies processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs after intake (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2018). A good understanding of drug reactions and processes in the body is important in making proper prescriptions and avoiding medication errors that can impair the health of the patients. This paper will discuss a case study with factors that influence pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics and establish a personalized plan of care for the patient. Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
Anne a 70-year old female comes to the clinic because she has been feeling unwell for two days and describes to the physician that ‘she has not been feeling like herself. The patient is hypertensive and experiencing tachycardia. There are no complaints of pain from the patient but she has a health history of anxiety, depression, COPD, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. Anne is admitted for the hypertensive condition for further check-up and follow-up. The patient manages her depression with a serotonin reuptake inhibitor and an ace inhibitor for hypertension.
In treating this patient, chronic kidney disease is a key factor to consider. Uncontrolled hypertension could have been caused by chronic kidney malfunctioning. Another factor to consider is the compliance of the patient to medications while at home. Environmental exposure could be another factor to consider in this case. A renal function examination would be important to determine if Anne is having acute renal failure.
If Anne suffers from acute renal impairment, long-term medications which are excreted via the kidney would be avoided. Alternations of drugs, in this case, will be based on pharmacokinetics due to kidney dysfunction (Keller & Hann, 2018). In renal compromised patients, the excretion factor of each drug plays a major role. Environmental exposure will be important to consider since according to Banerjee (2020), pollutants such as pesticides alter the drug-metabolizing enzymes and interfere with the whole process of drug pharmacokinetics. Any exposure to pesticides either at the workplace or residence would interfere with the effectiveness of the given medication.
In conclusion, proper history taking and understanding of each patient is important in determining the treatment plan of patients. In this case, Anne would be stabilized from the hypertensive condition then continue with home dose with keen monitoring. The increased medication would be necessary in case of recurrent hypertension. Discussion: Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics
References
Banerjee, et al. (01/17/2020). Effect of environmental exposure and pharmacogenomics of drug metabolism. https://doi.org/10.2174/1389200221666200110153304
Keller, F., & Hann, A. (2018). Principles of drug response and alterations in kidney disease. CJASN September 2018, 13 (9) 1413-1420; https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.10960917
Rosenthal, L. D., & Burchum, J. R. (2018). Lehne’s pharmacotherapeutics for advanced practice providers. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
