Nursing: Patient’s Health Needs

As an advanced practice nurse, you will likely encounter many disorders associated with women’s and men’s health, such as hormone deficiencies, cancers, and other functional and structural abnormalities. Disorders such as these not only result in physiological consequences but also psychological consequences, such as embarrassment, guilt, or profound disappointment for patients. For these reasons, the provider-patient relationship must be carefully managed. During evaluations, patients must feel comfortable answering questions so that you, as a key health-care provider, will be able to diagnose and recommend appropriate treatment options. Advanced practice nurses must be able to educate patients on these disorders and help relieve associated stigmas and concerns.
This week, you examine women’s and men’s health concerns as well as the types of drugs used to treat disorders that affect women’s and men’s health. You also explore how to treat aspects of these disorders on other health systems.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Evaluate patients for treatment of complex health issues
Evaluate patients for treatment of infections
Evaluate patients for treatment of hematologic disorders
Analyze patient education strategies for the management and treatment of complex comorbidities
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Rosenthal, L. D., & Burchum, J. R. (2018). Lehne’s pharmacotherapeutics for advacned practice providers. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
Chapter 44, “Anticoagulant and Antiplatelet Drugs” (pp. 451–472)
Chapter 45, “Drugs for Deficiency Anemias” (pp. 473–483)
Chapter 48, “Estrogens and Progestins: Basic Pharmacology and Noncontraceptive Applications” (pp. 521–533)
Chapter 49, “Birth Control” (pp. 535–547)
Chapter 50, “Androgens” (pp. 549–556)
Chapter 51, “Drugs for Erectile Dysfunction and Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia” (pp. 557–569)
Chapter 68, “Basic Principles of Antimicrobial Therapy” (pp. 769–781)
Chapter 69, “Drugs That Weaken the Bacterial Cell Wall I: Penicillins” (pp. 783–790)
Chapter 73, “Sulfonamides and Trimethoprim” (pp. 619–826)
Chapter 74, “Drug Therapy of Urinary Tract Infections” (pp. 827–831)
Chapter 75, “Antimycobacterial Agents” (pp. 833–847)
Chapter 76, “Miscellaneous Antibacterial Drugs” (pp. 849–853)
Chapter 77, “Antifungal Agents” (pp. 855–866)
Chapter 78, “Antiviral Agents I: Drugs for Non-HIV Viral Infections” (pp. 867–886)
Chapter 80, “Drug Therapy of Sexually Transmitted Diseases” (pp. 905–911)
Lunenfeld, B., Mskhalaya, G., Zitzmann, M., Arver, S., Kalinchenko, S., Tishova, Y., & Morgentaler, A. (2015). Recommendations on the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of hypogonadism in men. Aging Male, 18(1), 5–15. doi:10.3109/13685538.2015.1004049
This article presents recommendations on the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of hypogonadism in men. Reflect on the concepts presented and consider how this might impact your role as an advanced practice nurse in treating men’s health disorders.
Montaner, J. S. G., Lima, V. D., Harrigan, P. R., Lourenço, L., Yip, B., Nosyk, B., … Kendall, P. (2014). Expansion of HAART coverage is associated with sustained decreases in HIV/AIDS morbidity, mortality and HIV transmission: The “HIV Treatment as Prevention” experience in a Canadian setting. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e87872. Retrieved from https://doi(dot)org/10.1371/journal.pone.0087872

This study examines HAART therapy and its sustainability and profound population-level decrease in morbidity, mortality, and HIV transmission.
Roberts, H., & Hickey, M. (2016). Managing the menopause: An update. Maturitas, 86(2016), 53–58. .https://doi(dot)org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2016.01.007
This article provides an update on treatments on Vasomotor symptoms (VMS), genito-urinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, and mood disturbance that are common during the menopause transition.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2014). Guide to clinical preventive services, 2014: Section 2. Recommendations for adults. Retrieved from http://www(dot)ahrq(dot)gov/professionals/clinicians-providers/guidelines-recommendations/guide/section2.html

This website lists various preventive services available for men and women and provides information about available screenings, tests, preventive medication, and counseling.

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Discussion: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
As an advanced practice nurse, you will likely experience patient encounters with complex comorbidities. For example, consider a female patient who is pregnant who also presents with hypertension, diabetes, and has a recent tuberculosis infection. How might the underlying pathophysiology of these conditions affect the pharmacotherapeutics you might recommend to help address your patient’s health needs? What education strategies might you recommend for ensuring positive patient health outcomes?
For this Discussion, you will be assigned a patient case study and will consider how to address the patient’s current drug therapy plans. You will then suggest recommendations on how to revise these drug therapy plans to ensure effective, safe, and quality patient care for positive patient health outcomes.
Case study:
A 46-year-old, 230lb woman with a family history of breast cancer. She is up to date on yearly mammograms. She has a history of HTN. She complains of hot flushing, night sweats, and genitourinary symptoms. She had felt well until 1 month ago and she presented to her gynecologist for her annual gyn examination and to discuss her symptoms. She has a history of ASCUS about 5 years ago on her pap, other than that, Pap smears have been normal. Home medications are Norvasc 10mg qd and HCTZ 25mg qd. Her BP today is 150/90. She has regular monthly menstrual cycles. Her LMP was 1 month ago.
To Prepare
Review the Resources for this module and reflect on the different health needs and body systems presented.
Your Instructor will assign you a complex case study to focus on for this Discussion.
Consider how you will practice critical decision making for prescribing appropriate drugs and treatment to address the complex patient health needs in the patient case study you selected.
By Day 3 of Week 9
Post a brief description of your patient’s health needs from the patient case study you assigned. Be specific. Then, explain the type of treatment regimen you would recommend for treating your patient, including the choice or pharmacotherapeutics you would recommend and explain why. Be sure to justify your response. Explain a patient education strategy you might recommend for assisting your patient with the management of their health needs. Be specific and provide examples.