Factors Affecting Prescription (Essay Sample)

Factors Affecting Prescription Name: Institution: Link to the article: http://samples.jbpub.com/9780763786076/86076_CH03_FINAL.pdf Introduction The task of prescribing and assigning pharmacological interventions is complex and very dynamic. Medical practitioners must pay attention to a number of factors. Failure to consider these factors might lead to adverse and detrimental consequences on the care seeker. As such, the nurses must have information on the factors that must be considered before a certain drug therapy is prescribed for a patient. This paper seeks to elucidate on the potential factors that must be focused on for accurate prescription to be achieved. The paper has achieved this goal by studying an article by John McFadden. The factors focused on are cultural, genetic and ethnic. Cultural Considerations McFadden recognizes that the culture and lifestyle of individual persons is a crucial determinant of the nature of the prescription should receive. He posits that a person’s culture as well as lifestyle exposes them to a number of substances and behaviors that might affect how the person’s body reacts to clinical prescriptions. From the book chapter, one learns that things such as food, air and water are exogenous substances and have the ability to influence how the body reacts to drugs prescribed by doctors and nurses. In advancing this argument, McFadden (2008) argues that a person’s culture exposes him to some substances while excluding him to others. The substances that come into contact with the body are known as xenobiotics and the body of the individual person recognizes them as foreign materials. The body uses massive enzymatic actions that have been developed in the course of evolution. However, some of the substances may fail to leave the body; thus, forcing it to adjust in a manner that accommodates the xenobiotic chemicals. Such a condition changes several chemical and physiological functions in the body. Such changes may affect drug targets as well as the systems that enhance the absorption, metabolizaiton, distribution, and elimination of drugs. Genetic Considerations In the book chapter, McFadden (2008) asks a question aimed at determining whether the genetic composition of a person might affect the way his body reacts and interacts with clinical drugs. The information provided in the book does not answer the question to the entirety. In fact, it suggests that the research that has been conducted on this area is still inconclusive. However, he provides clues that might help nurses in determining how a person’s genetic makeup might affect their interactions with drug interventions. For example, he states that it is a common knowledge in medicine that polymorphism occurs in proteins that are usually targeted by drugs. Similarly, pathways that are targeted by a certain drugs usually undergo polymorphism. Drawing from this common knowledge, he argues that polymorphism occur in drug target proteins and target pathways, in drug-metabolizing enzymes. Such a condition means that there is a coincidental influence of protein polymorphism on pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics (Ouellette and Joyce, 2011). McFadden (2008) identifies more arguments that have been introduced in the past. For example, he argues that it has been confirmed that some polymorphisms might instigate faster enzyme activity. Such a condition, in turn, implies that the genetic make of a person can determine the rate at which drugs are absorbed into the body, distributed and eliminated. More studies demonstrate that mutation has had significant influence on the nature of the interactions between individuals and drug therapy. He gives an example of a study which demonstrated that red hair individuals required a higher concentration of alveolar concentration of inhalation anesthetic compared with their dark hair counterparts. Notably, red hair is a sign of mutation of melanocortin-1 gene. The main lesson learned from this part is that medical practitioners must pay close attention to the genetic makeup of an individual before making a prescription. Ethnic Considerations According to McFadden (2008), the link between ethnicity and pharmacological is complex and so far unknown. This is an indirect way of saying that scholars and researchers in this field have not established the influence that race might have on the interaction between an individual’s body and the drugs administered by a medical practitioner. McFadden argues that in the past, race could be used to for the same functions as genes because people could be categorized based on their geographic origins. However, the same is not possible as gene mutation has taken a precedence in the currently mobile society. As such, medical practitioners are advised to use race and ethnicity as clues but should not prescribe based on the racial observation of the individual. As a matter of fact, many scholars suggest that race and ethnicity should be backed up by genotype analysis. Such a condition means that genetic assessment takes the precedence when it comes to administering a drug therapy. Educating the Client McFadden (2008) can be used to teach a client that he should not take a prescription without examining the trustworthy of the practitioner. In other words, the client should be cautious enough to conduct a background check on the practitioner in an attempt to ensure that they are trained and qualified to practice medicine. Again, the book shows that clients sh...