Psychosis and schizophrenia greatly impact the brain’s normal processes, which interfere with the ability to think clearly. When symptoms of these disorders are uncontrolled, patients may struggle to function in daily life. However, patients often thrive when properly diagnosed and treated under the close supervision of a psychiatric mental health practitioner. For this Assignment, you will develop a study guide for an assigned psychotropic agent for treating patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders.
To prepare:
- Review this week’s Learning Resources, including the Medication Resources indicated for this week. (Included below in “Resources to consider”)
- Reflect on the psychopharmacologic treatments you might recommend for treatment of patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders.
- Research your assigned psychotropic medication agent, then, develop an organizational scheme for the important information about the medication.
- *Review Learning Resource: Utah State University. (n.d.). Creating study guides. https://www.usu.edu/academic-support/test/creating_study_guidesLinks to an external site.
Assignment (4 pages):
- Create a study guide for your assigned psychotropic medication agents.
- Your study guide should be in the form of an outline with references, and you should incorporate visual elements such as concept maps, charts, diagrams, images, color coding, mnemonics, and/or flashcards.
- Be creative! It should not be in the format of an APA paper. Your guide should be informed by the FDA-approved and Evidenced-Based, Clinical Practice Guidelines Research but also supported by at least three other scholarly resources.
Areas of importance you should address, but are not limited to, are:
- Title page
- Description of the Psychopharmacological medication agent including brand and generic names and appropriate FDA indication uses
- Any supporting, valid and reliable research for non-FDA uses
- Drug classification
- The medication mechanism of action
- The medication pharmacokinetics
- The medication pharmacodynamics
- Mechanism of Action
- Appropriate dosing, administration route, and any considerations for dosing alterations
- Considerations of use and dosing in specific specialty populations to consider children, adolescents, elderly, pregnancy, suicidal behaviors, etc.
- Definition of Half-life, why half-life is important, and the half-life for your assigned medication
- Side effects/adverse reaction potentials
- Contraindications for use including significant drug to drug interactions
- Overdose Considerations
- Diagnostics and labs monitoring
- Comorbidities considerations
- Legal and ethical considerations
- Pertinent patient education considerations
- Reference Page
NOTE: Please use Resources/References not older than 5-years. (Late 2018/2019 – 2023)
U.S. Food & Drug Administration. (n.d.). Drugs@FDA: FDA-approved drugsLinks to an external site.. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/index.cfm
Resources to consider:
- Freudenreich, O., Goff, D. C., & Henderson, D. C. (2016). Antipsychotic drugs. In T. A. Stern, M. Favo, T. E. Wilens, & J. F. Rosenbaum. (Eds.), Massachusetts General Hospital psychopharmacology and neurotherapeutics (pp. 72–85). Elsevier.
- American Psychiatric Association. (2019). Practice guideline for the treatment of patients with schizophreniaLinks to an external site.. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Practice/Clinical%20Practice%20Guidelines/APA-Draft-Schizophrenia-Treatment-Guideline.pdf
- Clozapine REMS. (2015). Clozapine REMS: The single shared system for clozapineLinks to an external site.. https://www.clozapinerems.com/CpmgClozapineUI/rems/pdf/resources/Clozapine_REMS_A_Guide_for_Healthcare_Providers.pdf
- Funk, M. C., Beach, S. R., Bostwick, J. R., Celano, C. M., Hasnain, M., Pandurangi, A., Khandai, A., Taylor, A., Levenson, J. L., Riba, M., & Kovacs, R. J. (2018). Resource document on QTc prolongation and psychotropic medicationsLinks to an external site.. American Psychiatric Association. https://www.psychiatry.org/File%20Library/Psychiatrists/Directories/Library-and-Archive/resource_documents/Resource-Document-2018-QTc-Prolongation-and-Psychotropic-Med.pdf
- Kay, S. R., Fiszbein, A., & Opler, L. A. (1987). The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia BulletinLinks to an external site., 13(2), 261–276. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/13.2.261
- Levenson, J. C., Kay, D. B., & Buysse, D. J. (2015). The pathophysiology of insomnia. ChestLinks to an external site., 147(4), 1179–1192. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4388122/
- McClellan, J. & Stock. S. (2013). Practice parameter for the assessment and treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryLinks to an external site., 52(9), 976–990. https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(09)62600-9/pdf
- Naber, D., & Lambert, M. (2009). The CATIE and CUtLASS studies in schizophrenia: Results and implications for clinicians. CNS DrugsLinks to an external site., 23(8), 649–659. https://doi.org/10.2165/00023210-200923080-00002
- Utah State University. (n.d.). Creating study guidesLinks to an external site.. https://www.usu.edu/academic-support/test/creating_study_guides
