Examine Case Study: A Puerto Rican Woman With Comorbid Addiction. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the client’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes.
At each decision point stop to complete the following:

• Decision #1
  • Which decision did you select?
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
• Decision #2
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
• Decision #3
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?

case Study and the decisions
 
BACKGROUND
Mrs. Maria Perez is a 53 year old Puerto Rican female who presents to your office today due to a rather “embarrassing problem.”
 
SUBJECTIVE
Mrs. Perez admits that she has had “problems” with alcohol since her father died in her late teens. She reports that she has struggled with alcohol since her 20’s and has been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous “on and off” for the past 25 years. She states that for the past two years, she has been having more and more difficulty maintaining her sobriety since they opened the new “Rising Sun” casino near her home. Mrs. Perez states that she and a friend went to visit the new casino during their grand opening at which point she was “hooked.” She states that she gets “such a high” when she is gambling. While gambling, she “enjoys a drink or two” to help calm her during high-stakes games. She states that this often gives way to more drinking and more reckless gambling. She also reports that her cigarette smoking has increased over the past two years and she is concerned about the negative effects of the cigarette smoking on her health.
She states that she attempts to abstain from drinking but that she gets such a “high” from the act of gambling that she needs a few drinks to “even out.” She also notices that when she drinks, she doesn’t smoke “as much” but enjoys smoking when she is playing at the slot machines. She also reports that she has gained weight from drinking so much- she currently weights 122 lbs., which represents a 7 lb. weight gain from her usual 115 lb. weight.
Mrs. Perez is quite concerned today because she has borrowed over $50,000 from her retirement account to pay off her gambling debts. She is very concerned because her husband does not know that she has spent this much money.
 
MENTAL STATUS EXAM
The client is a 53 year old Puerto Rican female who is alert, oriented to person, place, time, and event. She is dressed appropriately for the weather and time of year. Her speech is clear, coherent, and goal directed. Her eye contact is somewhat avoidant during the clinical interview. As you make eye contact with her, she looks away or looks down. She demonstrates no noteworthy mannerisms, gestures, or tics. Her self-reported mood is “sad.” Affect is appropriate to content of conversation & self-reported mood. She visual or auditory hallucinations, no delusional or paranoid thought processes are readily appreciated. Insight and judgment are grossly intact, however, impulse control is impaired. She is currently denying suicidal or homicidal ideation.
Decision Point One
Select what the PMHNP should do:
 
Naltrexone (Vivitrol) injection, 380 mg intramuscularly in the gluteal region every 4 weeks
Antabuse (Disulfiram) 250 mg orally daily
Campral (Acamprosate) 666 mg orally three times/day
Decision Point Two
Select what the PMHNP should do next:
 
Add on Valium (diazepam) 5 mg orally TID/PRN/anxiety
Refer to a counselor to address gambling issues
Add on Chantix (varenicline) 1 mg orally BID
Decision Point Three
Select what the PMHNP should do next:
Explore the issue that Mrs. Perez is having with her counselor, and encourage her to continue attending the Gamblers Anonymous meetings
Encourage Mrs. Perez to continue seeing her current counselor as well as continuing with the Gamblers Anonymous group
Discontinue Vivitrol. Encourage Mrs. Perez to continue seeing her counselor and to continue participating in the Gamblers Anonymous groupBACKGROUND
Mrs. Maria Perez is a 53 year old Puerto Rican female who presents to your office today due to a rather “embarrassing problem.”
SUBJECTIVE
Mrs. Perez admits that she has had “problems” with alcohol since her father died in her late teens. She reports that she has struggled with alcohol since her 20’s and has been involved with Alcoholics Anonymous “on and off” for the past 25 years. She states that for the past two years, she has been having more and more difficulty maintaining her sobriety since they opened the new “Rising Sun” casino near her home. Mrs. Perez states that she and a friend went to visit the new casino during their grand opening at which point she was “hooked.” She states that she gets “such a high” when she is gambling. While gambling, she “enjoys a drink or two” to help calm her during high-stakes games. She states that this often gives way to more drinking and more reckless gambling. She also reports that her cigarette smoking has increased over the past two years and she is concerned about the negative effects of the cigarette smoking on her health.
She states that she attempts to abstain from drinking but that she gets such a “high” from the act of gambling that she needs a few drinks to “even out.” She also notices that when she drinks, she doesn’t smoke “as much” but enjoys smoking when she is playing at the slot machines. She also reports that she has gained weight from drinking so much- she currently weights 122 lbs., which represents a 7 lb. weight gain from her usual 115 lb. weight.
Mrs. Perez is quite concerned today because she has borrowed over $50,000 from her retirement account to pay off her gambling debts. She is very concerned because her husband does not know that she has spent this much money.
MENTAL STATUS EXAM
The client is a 53 year old Puerto Rican female who is alert, oriented to person, place, time, and event. She is dressed appropriately for the weather and time of year. Her speech is clear, coherent, and goal directed. Her eye contact is somewhat avoidant during the clinical interview. As you make eye contact with her, she looks away or looks down. She demonstrates no noteworthy mannerisms, gestures, or tics. Her self-reported mood is “sad.” Affect is appropriate to content of conversation & self-reported mood. She visual or auditory hallucinations, no delusional or paranoid thought processes are readily appreciated. Insight and judgment are grossly intact, however, impulse control is impaired. She is currently denying suicidal or homicidal ideation.
Decision Point One
Select what the PMHNP should do:
Naltrexone (Vivitrol) injection, 380 mg intramuscularly in the gluteal region every 4 weeks
Antabuse (Disulfiram) 250 mg orally daily
Campral (Acamprosate) 666 mg orally three times/day
Decision Point Two
Select what the PMHNP should do next:
Add on Valium (diazepam) 5 mg orally TID/PRN/anxiety
Refer to a counselor to address gambling issues
Add on Chantix (varenicline) 1 mg orally BID
Decision Point Three
Select what the PMHNP should do next:
Explore the issue that Mrs. Perez is having with her counselor, and encourage her to continue attending the Gamblers Anonymous meetings
Encourage Mrs. Perez to continue seeing her current counselor as well as continuing with the Gamblers Anonymous group
Discontinue Vivitrol. Encourage Mrs. Perez to continue seeing her counselor and to continue participating in the Gamblers Anonymous group

An 11-year-old boy presents to the emergency room (ER) with a 4-inch laceration on his right arm. He was with his friends doing bicycle stunts when he fell off his bike and cut his arm on a rusty nail from the ramp. In addition, his wrist is swollen, bruised, tender to touch, and warm, with limited mobility. He will most likely need stitches to close the laceration and a splint for the sprain.
In your initial post answer the following questions:
After treatment, as he prepares to leave, you give him last-minute care instructions for laceration and sprain. What would be important for this boy to know to prevent further health concerns with his injuries?
The boy concernedly asks you, “My uncle lost his foot because he got gangrene in it. Am I going to lose my arm if I get an infection in this cut?” How would you respond?

In the Module 4 Discussion, you considered how professional nurses can become involved in policy-making. A critical component of any policy design is evaluation of the results. How comfortable are you with the thought of becoming involved with such matters?
Some nurses may be hesitant to get involved with policy evaluation. The preference may be to focus on the care and well-being of their patients; some nurses may feel ill-equipped to enter the realm of policy and political activities. However, as you have examined previously, who better to advocate for patients and effective programs and polices than nurses? Already patient advocates in interactions with doctors and leadership, why not with government and regulatory agencies?
In this Discussion, you will reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.
To Prepare:

• Review and reflect on the role of professional nurses in policy evaluation.

BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 9

Post an explanation of at least two opportunities that currently exist for RNs and APRNs to actively participate in policy review. Explain some of the challenges that these opportunities may present and describe how you might overcome these challenges. Finally, recommend two strategies you might make to better advocate for or communicate the existence of these opportunities. Be specific and provide examples.