Assignment: Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia

Week 10 assignment

Assignment: Assessing and Treating Clients With Dementia

The Alzheimer’s Association defines dementia as “a general
term for a decline in mental ability severe enough to interfere with daily
life” (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016). This term encompasses dozens of
cognitive disorders of impaired memory formation, recall, and communication.
The care and treatment of clients with dementia is dependent on multiple
factors, including the stage of dementia, comorbidities, family support, and
even the care setting. In your role, as the psychiatric mental health nurse
practitioner, you must be prepared to not only treat clients with these various
cognitive disorders, but also the multiple behavioral issues that often
accompany them. For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in
this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients
presenting with dementia.

Reference: Alzheimer’s Association. (2016). What is
dementia? Retrieved from http://www.alz.org/what-is-dementia.asp

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Assess client factors and history to develop personalized
therapy plans for clients with dementia

Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and
pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring therapy for dementia

Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans

Analyze ethical and legal implications related to
prescribing therapy for clients with dementia

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources,
please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course
Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Note: All Stahl
resources can be accessed through the Walden Library using this link. This link
will take you to a log-in page for the Walden Library. Once you log into the
library, the Stahl website will appear.

Stahl, S. M. (2013).
Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical
applications (4th ed.). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access the following chapter, click on the Essential
Psychopharmacology, 4th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the
appropriate chapter. Be sure to read all sections on the left navigation bar
for each chapter.

Chapter 13, “Dementia and Its Treatment”

Stahl, S. M. (2014b). The prescriber’s guide (5th ed.). New
York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

To access information on the following medications, click on
The Prescriber’s Guide, 5th ed tab on the Stahl Online website and select the
appropriate medication.

Review the following medications:

For insomnia

donepezil

galantamine

memantine

rivastigmine

Bui, Q. (2012). Antidepressants for agitation and psychosis
in patients with dementia. American Family Physician, 85(1), 20–22. Retrieved
from http://www.aafp.org/journals/afp.html

Note: Retrieved from from the Walden Library databases.

Meltzer, H. Y.,
Mills, R., Revell, S., Williams, H., Johnson, A., Bahr, D., & Friedman, J.
H. (2010). Pimavanserin, a serotonin receptor inverse agonist for the treatment
of Parkinson’s disease psychosis. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 881–891.
Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v35/n4/pdf/npp2009176a.pdf

Required Media

Laureate Education.
(2016h). Case study: An elderly Iranian man with Alzheimer’s disease
[Interactive media file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: This case study will serve as the foundation for this
week’s Assignment.

To prepare for this Assignment:

Review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how to
assess and treat clients requiring therapy for dementia.

The Assignment

Examine Case Study: An Elderly Iranian Man With Alzheimer’s
Disease. 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?

Also include how ethical considerations might impact your
treatment plan and communication with clients.

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