NURS 6521 Week 8 Assignment - Decision Tree for Neurological and Musculoskeletal Disorders

Decision Tree for Neurological and Musculoskeletal Disorders Neurological and Musculoskeletal disorders are devastating disorders that reduce the quality of life and increase mortality (Rueangsirarak et al., 2018). Musculoskeletal disorders affect bones, joints, muscles, and connective tissues. These disorders, which may result in pain and loss of function, are known to be among the most disabling and costly conditions in the United States. (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Health and Medicine Division; Board on Health Care Services; Committee on Identifying Disabling Medical Conditions Likely to Improve with Treatment., (2020)). According to the Social Security Administration (n.d.), musculoskeletal system conditions may result from hereditary, congenital, or acquired pathologic processes. Musculoskeletal impairments may result from infectious, inflammatory, or degenerative processes; traumatic or developmental events; or neoplastic, vascular, or toxic/metabolic diseases (n.d). This paper aims to analyze drugs prescribed to treat neurological and musculoskeletal disorders and explore patient education strategies for treating and managing these disorders. This paper will also evaluate the impact of patient factors on the effects of prescribed drugs and drug therapy plans for neurologic and musculoskeletal disorders. The patient scenario The case scenario for this assignment is a 26-year-old female who has just been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and has scheduled an appointment to follow up with her physician but has several questions about her diagnosis. The healthcare provider will need to explain the etiology of the disorder to the patient, how it affects both the neurologic and musculoskeletal systems, some adverse symptoms that the patient needs to be aware of, and the specific drug therapy plans, including other treatment options that need to be decided on. 3 Decision #1: Begin Immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) IMT is used for the underlying immune disorder and therapies to relieve or modify symptoms. IMT is essentially directed at reducing the frequency of relapses and slowing progression. Some of the disease-modifying agents for MS that are currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include, Fingolimod, Siponimod, ozanimod, cladribine, teriflunomide, dimethyl fumarate, and monomethyl fumarate, which are administered orally; natalizumab, ocrelizumab, and mitoxantrone are administered by intravenous infusion; interferon beta-1a (Avonex) is administered intramuscularly; and interferon beta-1a (Rebif), interferon beta-1b, and glatiramer acetate are administered by subcutaneous injection (Luzzio & Chawla, 2022). These drugs appear to slow the progression of disability and reduction of accumulation of lesions within the brain and spinal cord (Luzzio & Chawla, 2022). The healthcare provider’s preference and experience with the medications will help to determine which drug is appropriate in a particular situation. The patient’s lifestyle, tolerance, and adverse effects of the medications should also be considered in the choosing disease- modifying therapies. Decision #2 Early treatment with immunomodulatory therapy has been associated with decreased disability progression and lower secondary relapse rates. However, patients with MS should understand that current immunomodulatory drugs are not curative. It is suggested that persons with high circulating vitamin D levels are at lower risk of MS (Institute of Medicine, n.d). Therefore, Vitamin D will need to be added as a supplemental drug for patients with MS. Decision # 3