COURSE:
NR546 – Advanced Pharmacology: Psychopharmacology
Preparing the Discussion
Follow these guidelines when completing each component of the discussion. Contact your course faculty if you have questions.
General Directions
Review the assigned topics listed by the first letter of your first name. For example, if your first name is Geoff, your assigned topic is norepinephrine.
The First Letter of Your First Name | Topic |
A – D | acetylcholine |
E – H | norepinephrine |
I – L | dopamine |
M – P | serotonin |
Q – T | gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) |
U – Z | histamine |
- Application of Course Knowledge: Answer all questions/criteria with explanations and detail.
- Provide a 3-5 sentence paraphrased summary of the assigned neurotransmitter purpose and function.
- Link the assigned neurotransmitter to a psychiatric diagnosis or diagnoses.
- Discuss associated symptoms of the selected diagnosis or diagnoses. Determine if each symptom is related to an excess or deficiency in the neurotransmitter.
- Identify a drug class that treats the disorder. Discuss whether recommended medications are agonists or antagonists. Explain how the medication impacts the clinical signs and symptoms (treats the diagnosis).
- Integration of Evidence: Integrate relevant scholarly sources as defined by program expectationsLinks to an external site.:
- Cite a scholarly source in the initial post.
- Cite a scholarly source in one faculty response post.
- Cite a scholarly source in one peer post.
- Accurately analyze, synthesize, and/or apply principles from evidence with no more than one short quote (15 words or less) for the week.
- Include a minimum of two different scholarly sources per week. Cite all references and provide references for all citations.
- Engagement in Meaningful Dialogue: Engage peers and faculty by asking questions, and offering new insights, applications, perspectives, information, or implications for practice.
- Peer Response: Respond to at least one peer on a topic other than the initially assigned topic.
- Faculty Response: Respond to at least one faculty post.
- Communicate using respectful, collegial language and terminology appropriate to advanced nursing practice.
- Professionalism in Communication: Communicate with minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation.
- Reference Citation: Use current APA format to format citations and references and is free of errors.
- Wednesday Participation Requirement: Provide a substantive response to the graded discussion topic (not a response to a peer or faculty), by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT of each week.
- Total Participation Requirement: Provide at least three substantive posts (one to the initial question or topic, one to a student peer, and one to a faculty question) on two different days during the week.
Solution
- Provide a 3-5 sentence paraphrased summary of the assigned neurotransmitter purpose and function.
Dopamine can create excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in the brain (Fellous & Suri, 2002). Dopamine is the reward center of the brain. It is believed this part of the brain leads to problems with addiction due to instant gratification. Low levels of dopamine would not be able to prompt an excitatory synaptic transmission (Fellous & Suri, 2002). Dopamine primarily affects……………………………$5