Clinical Pharmacology (n492P)
Course Number: 492P
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: Current RN license
Course Description
The course is designed for RN completion students with a basic knowledge of pharmacology. The course will enhance your knowledge of pharmacology through interactive methods including discussions among students, multiple-choice questions with feedback from the instructor, group work involving individual assignments with feedback from peers, field work (interview with a “client”), and involvement with online sources. You will use case study scenarios to develop a quality teaching plan. The course presents an opportunity to learn from many sources. Online courses of this nature require that you be open to new methods and flexible in your approach to learning.
This course examines various pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical agents administered by nurses in various health care environments. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic components of drug actions will be reviewed. Use of the nursing process will enhance the nurse's comprehension of specific pharmaceutical agents, their action(s), side effect(s) or complication(s), interactions, and contraindications and precautions. Herbal remedies and over-the-counter agents will be examined. Research related to pharmaceutical agents, polypharmacy, ethics, and cultural considerations will be investigated. Online resources will be used to obtain information about pharmaceutical agents and herbal remedies. Issues of drug abuse and addiction will be covered.
Course Objectives
- Demonstrate and enhance current knowledge of pharmaceutical agents, with an emphasis on actions of agents, pharmacokinetics, complications or side effects, and the nursing process.
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of herbal remedies and their implications when taken in conjunction with pharmaceutical agents.
- Demonstrate an understanding of polypharmacy concerns with older adults.
- Demonstrate and enhance knowledge and skills related to online resources used to evaluate pharmaceutical agents and herbal remedies.
- Examine and evaluate the influence that over-the-counter medications can have when combined with pharmaceutical agents.
- Identify current trends in pharmaceutical research, the government's responsibility in research and release of pharmaceutical agents for public use, and the public's accessibility to pharmaceutical agents.
- Discuss and describe cultural considerations and ethnopharmacological factors in relation to pharmaceutical agents.
- Identify and discuss the implications of substance abuse.
- Develop a teaching plan for a client currently taking prescribed pharmaceutical agents.