Assignment 1: Prescribing for Children and Adolescents NRNP 6665

Assignment 1: Prescribing for Children and Adolescents NRNP 6665

Assignment 1: Prescribing for Children and Adolescents NRNP 6665

Assignment 1: Prescribing for Children and Adolescents
Off-label prescribing is when a physician gives you a drug that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) has approved to treat a condition different than your condition. This practice is legal and common.
In fact, one in five prescriptions written today are for off-label use.
—Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Ingram Publishing
Psychotropic drugs are commonly used for children and adolescents to treat mental health disorders,
yet many of these drugs are not FDA approved for use in these populations. Thus, their use is considered
“off-label,” and it is often up to the best judgment of the prescribing clinician. As a PMHNP, you will
need to apply the best available information and research on pharmacological treatments for children in
order to safely and effectively treat child and adolescent patients. Sometimes this will come in the form
of formal studies and approvals for drugs in children. Other times you may need to extrapolate from
research or treatment guidelines on drugs in adults. Each individual patient case will need to be

considered independently and each treatment considered from a risk assessment standpoint. What
psychotherapeutic approach might be indicated as an initial treatment? What are the potential side
effects of a particular drug?
For this Assignment, you consider these questions and others as you explore FDA-approved (“on label”)
pharmacological treatments, non-FDA-approved (“off-label”) pharmacological treatments, and
nonpharmacological treatments for disorders in children and adolescents.
Reference:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2015). Off-label drugs: What you need to know. https://www.ahrq.gov/patients-consumers/patient-involvement/off-label-drug-usage.html
To Prepare
 Your Instructor will assign a specific disorder for you to research for this Assignment.
 Use the Walden library to research evidence-based treatments for your assigned disorder in
children and adolescents. You will need to recommend one FDA-approved drug, one off-label
drug, and one nonpharmacological intervention for treating this disorder in children and
adolescents.
The Assignment (1–2 pages)
 Recommend one FDA-approved drug, one off-label drug, and one nonpharmacological
intervention for treating your assigned disorder in children and adolescents.
 Explain the risk assessment you would use to inform your treatment decision making. What are
the risks and benefits of the FDA-approved medicine? What are the risks and benefits of the off-
label drug?
 Explain whether clinical practice guidelines exist for this disorder and, if so, use them to justify
your recommendations. If not, explain what information you would need to take into
consideration.
 Support your reasoning with at least three scholarly resources, one each on the FDA-approved
drug, the off-label, and a non-medication intervention for the disorder. Attach the PDFs of your
sources.
By Day 7 of Week 3
Submit your Assignment.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
 Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK3Assgn1+last name+first
initial.(extension)” as the name.
 Click the Week 3 Assignment 1 Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.

 Click the Week 3 Assignment 1 link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria
from this area.
 Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document
you saved as “WK3Assgn1+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
 If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my
paper(s) to the Global Reference Database.
 Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:
Week 3 Assignment 1 Rubric

Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity

To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 3 Assignment 1 draft and review the originality report.

Submit Your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 3

To participate in this Assignment:
Week 3 Assignment 1

 

Learning Resources

Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)

Hilt, R. J., & Nussbaum, A. M. (2016). DSM-5 pocket guide for child and adolescent mental health.
American Psychiatric Association Publishing.
 Chapter 14, “Psychosocial Interventions”
 Chapter 15, “Psychotherapeutic Interventions”
 Chapter 16, “Psychopharmacological Interventions”

Thapar, A., Pine, D. S., Leckman, J. F., Scott, S., Snowling, M. J., & Taylor, E. A. (2015). Rutter’s child and
adolescent psychiatry (6th ed.). Wiley Blackwell.

 Chapter 43, “Pharmacological, Medically-Led and Related Treatments”

Walden University. (n.d.). Developing SMART goals.
https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/ld.php?content_id=51901492

Zakhari, R. (2020). The psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner certification review manual. Springer.
 Chapter 5, “Psychopharmacology”

Required Media (click to expand/reduce)

CriticalThinkRx. (2019, June 9). Module 5: Specific drug classes: Focus on adverse effects [Video].
YouTube. https://youtu.be/Gbq6RnOsGKQ

CriticalThinkRx. (2019, June 9). Module 2: Use of psychotropics with youth_prevalence and concerns
[Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/NRef-g4Ding