As a psychiatric and mental health nurse practitioner, it is essential for you to have a strong background in foundational neuroscience. In order to diagnose and treat patients, you must not only understand the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders but also how medications for these disorders impact the central nervous system. These concepts of foundational neuroscience can be challenging to understand. Therefore, this Discussion is designed to encourage you to think through these concepts, develop a rationale for your thinking, and deepen your understanding by interacting with your colleagues.
For this Discussion, review the Learning Resources and reflect on the concepts of foundational neuroscience as they might apply to your role as the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in prescribing medications for patients.
Welcome to Week 2 of NURS 6630
This week’s assignment- Discussion Forum
The Discussion
By Day 3 (Wednesday) of Week 2Post a response to each of the following:
Explain the agonist-to-antagonist spectrum of action of psychopharmacologic agents, including how partial and inverse agonist functionality may impact the efficacy of psychopharmacologic treatments. Provide specific examples to agonists, antagonists, partial agonists and inverse agonists that we use in Psychotherapy
Compare and contrast the actions of g couple proteins and ion gated channels.
Explain how the role of epigenetics may contribute to pharmacologic action.
Explain how this information may impact the way you prescribe medications to patients. Include a specific example of a situation or case with a patient in which the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner must be aware of the medication’s action.
Upload a copy of your discussion writing to the draft Turnitin for plagiarism check. Your faculty holds the academic freedom to not accept your work and grade at a zero if your work is not uploaded as a draft submission to Turnitin as instructed.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days in one of the following ways:
If your colleagues’ posts influenced your understanding of these concepts, be sure to share how and why. Include additional insights you gained.
If you think your colleagues might have misunderstood these concepts, offer your alternative perspective and be sure to provide an explanation for them. Include resources to support your perspective.
Required Reading
Stahl, S. M. (2021). Stahl’s essential psychopharmacology: Neuroscientific basis and practical applications (5th Ed.) Cambridge University Press.Chapter 2, “Transporters, Receptors, and Enzymes as Targets of Psychopharmacological Drug Action” (pp. 29-50)
Chapter 3, “Ion Channels as Targets of Psychopharmacological Drug Action) (pp. 51-76)
The University of British Columbia. (n. d.). Neuroanatomy videos http://neuroanatomy.ca/videos.html
Note: Please review all of the media under the neuroanatomy series.Mental Health TV. (2022, Oct 7). Psychopharmacology-Module four [Video]. YouTube.
Mental Health TV. (2022, Oct 7). Psychopharmacology-Module five [Video]. YouTube.