Drug Therapy Case Study 3 pages
Drug Therapy Case Study
You are on a medical unit and caring for a new admission, Ms. Polly Pharm a 65-year-old grandmother. Polly has the presenting problems of Type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and gastritis. Ms. Pharm’s current medication regime is
Glimepiride 2mg mane (morning)
Ibuprofen 200mg tds (3x day)
Lansoprazole 30mg daily
One of the foremost responsibilities of a professional nurse is the proper administration of pharmaceutical drugs and prescription medications. While the correct dosage of a particular medication may achieve the desired effect of minimizing symptoms, managing pain, or reversing an infection’s spread through the system, many of the most commonly prescribed drugs are capable of causing adverse interactions when they are improperly combined. As the nurse in charge of caring for Ms. Polly Pharm, it is critical that I am fully aware of her past intake of certain medications, her propensity for allergic reactions, and any other mitigating factors which may affect the proper administration of vital medications. It is also extremely important that I apprise myself of her current drug regimen, including the dosage and the potency of the medications, to determine whether or not these drugs may actually inhibit here recovery rather than enhance it.
1.) What are the indications and actions of the prescribed medications?
As an elderly individual coping with diabetes mellitus type 2, Ms. Pharm has been prescribed the sulfonylurea Glimepiride every morning, which acts to lower her blood pressure by causing the pancreas to produce increased amounts of insulin (Mims Online, 2011). According to Harvard’s Guide to Drugs, Glimepiride is an “orally active sulfonylurea agent that stimulates insulin release from functioning pancreatic cells” (Tiziani, 2010, 172).
As an elderly women suffering from the typical effects of aging, which include decreased bone density and osteoarthritis, Ms. Pharm also takes an ibuprofen pill three times each day to relieve general aches and pains. Generic ibuprofen is classified as a simple analgesic and is indicated as an effective remedy for the relief of mild to moderate pain (MIMS Online, 2011).
Ibuprofen is also in a class of medications known as NSAIDs, and acts “by stopping the body’s production of a substance that causes pain, fever, and inflammation” (PubMed Health, 2010).
Finally, due to her history of gastritis, Ms. Pharm has been prescribed Lansoprazole, a common heartburn medication which is also known by the trade name Prevacid. Typical indications that a patient would benefit from regular dosages of Lansoprazole include “duodenal and benign gastric ulcers