Psychiatric medications are administered to the patients with mental disorders. They are also referred to as psychotropic or the psychotherapeutic medications. Without the medications, the patients suffer adverse disabling conditions. However, some patients experience adverse effects of these medications. These adverse effects vary in terms of age, genetics, organ functionalities, diet among others. The adverse effects include drowsiness and dizziness, poor vision and irregular heart rhythm.
Several nursing interventions are available to deal with the side effects. The patients with cardiovascular diseases are prone to adverse reactions to medication. As a preventive measure, the patients need to visit the hospital regularly to have a level of lithium in the blood regularly checked. During the checkup, the nurses also ensure that the liver, kidneys, heart and thyroid are working routinely.
Patients who are undergoing anxiolytic and extrapyramidal medications because of conditions such as anxiety disorders and related symptoms normally take benzodiazepines drugs. As a nursing intervention, the adverse effects of benzodiazepines can be managed by ensuring that the drugs are only taken for a maximum of 30 days. The nurses have to work either he doctors to ensure that those with evidence of adverse effects of benzodiazepines are put in a titrated withdrawal program .there should be a nursing based monitoring for any cognitive or functional declines. The nurses should use screening tools such as Mini Mental State Examination to monitor these declines.
The impacts of anticholinergic conditions require careful nursing assessment and intervention. Use of anxiolytic medications for anticholinergic conditions may have a poor outcome. The preferred nursing intervention is the careful choice of antidepressant drug whose anxiolytic effects are well known to the nurses. The nurses should therefore use medications such as the SSRIs, venlafaxine, and the novel antidepressant medications like the mirtazapine and the duloxetine.
The adverse effects of the anticholinergic, extrapyramidal, cardiovascular medications can also be addressed through non-pharmacological strategies. The nurses should design non-pharmacological strategies such as social support and family contact, and some physical activities like stimulation.
During the nursing intervention, the assessment questions should be structured in the best way; to query familial history of medication responses. The questions should focus on genetic issues, history of the condition in the family and the nature of the condition. The familial knowledge helps in administering medication, designing best-home-based care, and deciding on the possibility of putting some family members on drugs and issues of genetically engineered drug tolerance.
Works Cited
Austin, Marie-Paule. “To treat or not to treat: maternal depression, SSRI use in pregnancy and
adverse neonatal effects.” Psychological Medicine. 25 (2006):1-8. Print.
Boyd, Mary. “Psychiatric nursing: Contemporary practice.” Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer
Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. 2008. Print.
