NRS 237 Clinical Pharmacology for Nursing 1

This course introduces the theoretical background that enables students to provide safe and effective care related to drugs and natural products to persons throughout the lifespan. Students will learn to make selected clinical decisions regarding using current, reliable sources of information, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of drug therapy, teaching persons from diverse populations regarding safe and effective use of drugs and natural products, intervening to increase therapeutic benefits and reduce potential negative effects, and communicating appropriately with other health professionals regarding drug therapy. Drugs are studied by therapeutic or pharmacological class using an organized framework.

Credits

2

Prerequisite

BI 233, BI 234 (can be taken as a corequisite), both with C grades or higher; Admission into the Nursing Program

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Use current, reliable sources of information to access pertinent information about drugs and natural products, focusing on: identification of appropriate reliable sources of information in specific nursing situations, rapid retrieval of pertinent information from a current drug guide, and accurate retrieval of information from a comprehensive drug information source
2. Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of drug therapy, focusing on selection and interpretation of basic focused nursing assessments to detect therapeutic effects, side effects and adverse reactions, and drug-drug, drug-food, and drug-natural product interactions for specific classes of drugs, surveillance for vulnerability to negative effects of specific classes of drugs based on age, developmental physiology, and concurrent pathophysiology, psychopathology or other factors
3. Teach patients, family members, and others from diverse populations regarding safe and effective use of drugs and natural products, focusing on self-management of specific classes of over-the-counter and prescription drugs that are used episodically, self-management of specific classes of drugs that are taken for chronic conditions, how the action of specific classes of drugs relates to developmental, maturational, aging, neurochemical, and pathophysiological processes, or normal physiology, which side/adverse effects of specific classes of drugs and natural products to self-manage and which ones to report to health professionals, and how to avoid or recognize drug-drug, drug-food, and drug-natural product interactions with specific classes of drugs
4. Identify appropriate nursing interventions to increase therapeutic benefits and reduce potential negative effects of drug therapy, focusing on identification of basic non-pharmacological nursing interventions that potentially enhance the effectiveness of specific classes of drugs and assessment of barriers to adherence to drug therapy with specific classes of drugs
5. Communicate appropriately with other health professionals regarding drug therapy, focusing on using appropriate technical language related to pharmacology, explaining drug mechanisms of action and their relationship to normal physiology, and reporting pertinent information about an individual’s response to specific classes of drugs or natural products