Continuing Education

Psychopharmacology Management for Advanced Practice Nurses

(36 Pharmacology hours for APNs / 30 contact hours CE Credit)

A basic comprehension of chemical neurotransmission and neurotransmitter systems will enable the advanced practice nurse to understand the pharmacological basis for drug action in the prevention of illness, restoration, and maintenance of health in advanced practice psychiatric and mental health nursing. The challenges of drug interactions and drug adverse effects will be explored. Safety in prescribing psychotropic medications and ethical considerations as well as methods of evaluating psychiatric drug information will be presented. This course is appropriate for advanced practice nurses (CNS or NPs) who prescribe psychiatric medications. We remind you that for the purposes of prescriptive authority, pharmocotherapuetic continuing education courses must be relevant to your clinical scope of practice.

Objectives

• Describe the architecture of receptormediated chemical neurotransmission.
• Describe the neurotransmitter systems that provide the pharmacological basis for drug action in the prevention of illness, restoration, and maintenance of health in advanced practice psychiatric and mental health nursing.
• Describe the neurotransmitter systems that reinforce substances of abuse.
• Discuss interactions and adverse reactions of different classes of psychotropic drugs.
• Discuss special considerations of psychotropic drugs for special populations (i.e. Alzheimer’s or pediatric patients)
• Apply new information to existing patient care problems through consultation
  process with peers.
• Identify safety and ethical issues of prescribing psychotropic drugs.

Tentative Schedule

This course is offered completely online in a selfpaced format. This course has an assigned instructor who will be able to answer questions as you progress through the course. You should be able to complete this course within about 30 clock hours. YOU WILL HAVE SIX WEEKS TO COMPLETE THE COURSE.

Course Requirements

You are required to participate in online discussions for each module. A post-test is required at the end of the course. Once you complete the course we ask that you complete the online course evaluation. You will receive a certificate of completion of this course once your instructor notifies the CE office that you have completed all
course requirements.

Required Text

The following required textbook should be obtained as soon as possible to assist you to successfully complete the online course.  It is available online through Amazon.com or other online booksellers:

Stahl, Stephen. M. (2008). In Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology:  Neuroscientific  Basis and Practical Applications (3rd  Ed.). Cambridge: University Press.  ISBN 9780521673761

Neuroscience Education Institute: $199: You must also join the Neuroscience Education Institute to access other course materials needed to complete course objectives. The Neuroscience Education Institute web site is located at http://www.neiglobal.com/. The reading assignments of the text are coordinated with the learning activities located on line at the NEI web site. The membership fee entitles you to access to all member resources of the website, including additional free CEU offerings related to psychiatric and mental health. Browse the site for all the available resources. You will be directed to specific learning activities in the course.

Grading Policy

You will need to make a 75% on the posttest and complete required learning activities to pass this course. This course is a PassFail course for continuing education. Upon completion of this course you will be awarded 30 contact hours of continuing nursing education credits. This course has been approved for 36 pharmacology contact hours by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing for advanced practice nurses. for Adult or Family Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and Clinical Nurse Specialists certified in Adult or Child and Adolescent
Psychiatric and Mental Nursing. Other advanced practice nurses may be able to submit the hours earned in this course for a portion of their prescriptive authority continuing education, if the course content is relevant to their scope of practice.

CE Credit

Those successfully completing the workshop will be awarded 30 contact hours. The University of Oklahoma College of Nursing is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Colorado Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.
This course has been approved for Pharmacology hours by the Oklahoma Board of Nursing for 36 contact hours of Category C education (based on 50 minutes per contact hour) for Advanced Practice Nurses (Adult or Family Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioners and Clinical Nurse Specialists certified in Adult or Child and Adolescent Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing). Please note that this course is not approved for those seeking advanced pharmacology hours for initial prescriptive authority. Other advanced practice nurses may be able to submit the hours earned in this course for a portion of their prescriptive authority continuing education for renewal of prescriptive authority recognition, if the course content is relevant to their scope of practice.

Registration

To register on line click here or you can contact the University of Oklahoma Continuing Education Department at (405)271-2062.  Fax is (405)271-2818.
The cost of the course is $300 and can be paid by credit card, check, or money order.

Contact Us

For more information contact the OU College of Nursing Continuing Education Department at (405) 271-2062

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