Assessing & Treating Clients with Bipolar Disorder

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Assignment: Decision Tree

Assessing and Treating Clients with Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is a unique disorder that causes shifts in mood and energy, which results in depression and mania for clients. Proper diagnosis of this disorder is often a challenge for two reasons: 1) clients often present as depressive or manic, but may have both; and 2) many symptoms of bipolar disorder are similar to other disorders. Misdiagnosis is common, making it essential for you to have a deep understanding of the disorder’s pathophysiology. 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 bipolar disorder.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Assess client factors and history to develop personalized plans of bipolar therapy for clients
Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring bipolar therapy
Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans
Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing bipolar therapy to clients across the lifespan

To prepare for this Assignment:

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

The Assignment

Examine Case Study: An Asian American Woman With Bipolar Disorder

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.

I want you to answer the questions given to you (decision points one, two, and three) before you click on the option. The answers will be based on your decisions made and patient outcomes during the decision tree. I am looking for an essay that is long enough to cover the topic BUT short enough to keep my interest. The course page suggests writing 1 page per decision – my opinion is that it will be very difficult to justify your treatment decisions and provide scientific evidence in 1 page (especially for decision #1). I do not need you to tell me about the patient or the treatment options available to you – I am very familiar with the cases. Your introductory page should be an overview of the disease state you are treating along with a purpose statement for the assignment. Remember this is a Pharmacology class that incorporates Pharmacotherapy and not a class on diagnosing disease. I want you to tell me why you selected an option (why is it the best option- using clinically relevant and patient specific data) AND why you did not choose the other options (with clinically relevant and patient specific data).

Introduction to the case (1 page)

Briefly explain and summarize the disease state you are treating this Assignment. Be sure to include the specific patient factors that may impact your decision making when prescribing medication for this patient.

Decision #1

Which decision did you select?
- - Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature. Again, provide STRONG scientific evidence. Clinical studies or treatment guidelines are a good place to start!
Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #2 (1 page)

- - Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature. Again, provide STRONG scientific evidence. Clinical studies or treatment guidelines are a good place to start!
Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Decision #3 (1 page)

Why did you select this decision? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.
- - Why did you not select the other two options provided in the exercise? Be specific and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature. Again, provide STRONG scientific evidence. Clinical studies or treatment guidelines are a good place to start!
What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources (including the primary literature).
Explain how ethical considerations may impact your treatment plan and communication with patients. Be specific and provide examples.

Conclusion (1 page)

Summarize your recommendations on the treatment options you selected for this patient. Be sure to justify your recommendations and support your response with clinically relevant and patient-specific resources, including the primary literature.

After writing up your rationale at each decision point, I would ask yourself the following questions:

Have I provided clinical data from a meta-analysis, case report or clinical trial to support the drug I picked being safe, efficacious and the best choice for this patient?
Have I provided clinical data, etc. to support a clear rationale as to why the other treatment options are NOT optimal?
Is the focus of my discussion on mechanism of action and receptors/neurotransmitters that the drug acts on? If the answer is YES, you should consider doing additional research to address the above two questions

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

The rubric, as I interpret it, suggests 5 references cited with every assignment for full credit on this portion (20 points). References used for your introductory paragraph, ethical considerations or conclusion do not count towards the 5 references required. As a general rule of thumb, I would encourage you to reference AT LEAST two sources (not including the textbook) for each decision point – this will result in 6 references total for your clinical decision making. Assessing & Treating Clients with Bipolar Disorder

Assessing & Treating Clients with Bipolar Disorder