Well it turns out pharmacology has a bark that is much louder than its bite in terms of how difficult the class is. I actually have to sit back and laugh and laugh at myself at the amount of fret I had coming up to these sessions of lessons. I believe everyone in my class had same level of terror as I did, their eyes all screamed with fear. We all got through it just fine in fact I think the whole cohort passed with very strong marks. It just goes to show that if we dedicate ourselves we can all get it done.
It started with a few different types of substances familiarizing us to medications in different forms as well as some effects mixing these different substances can have. It really shows us how careful we have to be when we help clients with their medications. We have to be so aware of what we are doing because one mistake could potentially cause a lot of harm, it makes you focus that’s for sure. But honestly that really is all we needed to do to get through this class, focus hard pay attention and it does stay with you.
We didn’t have to know an enormous amount of different medications it concentrated a lot on what we needed to know for assisting clients, documenting when doses have been missed or taken out of turn. It is so important to document every mistake. I can’t stress enough that mistake are so damaging, overdosing can cause death depending on the medications used some can and can’t be mixed.
We learned about five of the many psychotropic agents which are medications that effects psychic function. Antipsychotics, for example are used to alleviate psychosis involved with schizophrenia, delusional disorders and can help with the treatment of cognitive disorders and dementia. Antidepressants that help with a wide range of disorders involving Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic disorder, Bulimia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder just to name a few. There are so many psychological disorders it truly is amazing.
I know every day I will be learning something new about illness and their treatments. I can appreciate how people suffer with their disabilities and how trying the maintenance is. How much money it can cost and how much discomfort it can cause. A sad thing for me is to see that people don’t get any choice in these matters it quite often comes down to living with one discomfort or another which is what motivates me to want to help. There was a lot of information to learn about different side effects involved with medications being taken. Antiparkinonian agents are psychotropic agents that helps with some of the side effects involved with taking other medications. There really are a lot of side effects and it could turn out that a client is recommended to take many different medications.
We did a lab based on the nine Rights of Medication. These are very important steps and a guideline used for assisting clients in taking their medications. We may be working at places where a client might live within assisted living and need to be given their medications as some insurance that the client is getting their medications. The client does have the right to refuse their medications and they often do refuse if they don’t like how they make them feel. So refusal to take their meds is one of them. Rights of Medication follow a very strict step by step system. Right dose is another Right of Medication which ensures that we are giving the correct amount of the medication consistent with the prescription to the client. There are nine and I don’t have space enough on this blog to tell you all of them without turning into a text book. So if you want to know more there are a couple hints for you on what to start reading about when it comes to pharmacology.
It really isn’t as hard as it looks from afar and becomes very interesting once we get by the fear and just concentrate on learning. I know the information I am being given to learn is growing into valuable assets that are going into my toolbox. I do realize as well that this toolbox that started very small last April has grown enormously, Pharmacology being the most recent of many assets. I also know that this toolbox will never stop growing because the more we have is the more we can use to give so I can never stop learning. I feel now that the day I stop learning will be the day I stop being and I got lots more being left to do. If it calls to you somehow and says you have to do it. There is a reason you need to do it, you might not know what that reason is now but you will and so much understanding falls into place. If it pulls hard just do it because the day you finally see why is a sense of purpose that I cannot explain. I just knew when it happened to me. Just go with it and until next time take all of life in because it is all a valuable asset in one way or another…..
