| Course | NUR 602 Advanced Pharmacology Across the Life Span |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 10 |
| Paper type | Closing reflective journal on prescribing |
| Length | About 420 words, 3 pages |
| Format | Journal entry with APA 7 citations |
| School | Southern New Hampshire University |
| Program | MSN |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for NUR 602 Module 10
Module Ten Journal
The Question Before the Prescription
On the first day of this term, prescribing still meant matching to me. In urgent care I had watched a diagnosis lead almost automatically to a drug: sinusitis to amoxicillin, sprain to ibuprofen, hay fever to whatever antihistamine was on the shelf. I expected advanced pharmacology to give me more drugs to match. What it gave me instead was a question I now ask first: who is this person, and what does that change?
The clearest lesson came from an 80-year-old man in our hay fever case who took diphenhydramine every night for his nose and his sleep. I would once have added a nasal spray and left the rest alone. This term taught me to see his confusion, his prostate and his kidney function as reasons the drug he already took was the problem. Rochon and Gurwitz (1997) describe how an adverse effect mistaken for a new illness leads to another prescription, and I recognized that pattern in several of our cases, including the older woman whose bladder drug worked against her memory treatment.
The second lesson was precision. Working out a cephalexin dose for a 17-kg child forced me to go from a range in milligrams per kilogram to 4.5 mL in an oral syringe. It sounds small, but it showed me that a prescription is not finished until a parent can measure it. The same was true for the teenager with asthma: the right inhaler did nothing until someone watched her use it and corrected her timing.
The third lesson was honesty about evidence and about choices. Several cases asked me to treat people who were left out of the trials, such as very old adults and pregnant women. I learned to say that plainly and to share the decision. Barry and Edgman-Levitan (2012) argue that shared decision-making is the peak of patient-centered care, and in the pregnancy case, explaining uncertain evidence about an early drug exposure felt more respectful than false reassurance.
I will take three questions into practice. First, could any current drug explain this symptom? Second, is the dose written so that this person can actually take it? Third, what does the evidence not cover for someone like this patient, and have I said so? Scott et al. (2015) describe deprescribing as a process of reviewing each drug's benefit and harm, and my first question is my version of their first step. I expect to be slower at first. I also expect fewer patients leaving with a drug that does not fit them.
References
Barry, M. J., & Edgman-Levitan, S. (2012). Shared decision making: The pinnacle of patient-centered care. New England Journal of Medicine, 366(9), 780-781. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1109283
Rochon, P. A., & Gurwitz, J. H. (1997). Optimising drug treatment for elderly people: The prescribing cascade. BMJ, 315(7115), 1096-1099. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.315.7115.1096
Scott, I. A., Hilmer, S. N., Reeve, E., Potter, K., Le Couteur, D., Rigby, D., Gnjidic, D., Del Mar, C. B., Roughead, E. E., Page, A., Jansen, J., & Martin, J. H. (2015). Reducing inappropriate polypharmacy: The process of deprescribing. JAMA Internal Medicine, 175(5), 827-834. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.0324
What the NUR 602 Module 10 instructions ask for
The closing NUR 602 journal generally wants a look back at the whole term: what the course taught you, how your thinking about prescribing changed and how you will apply it in advanced practice. Some prompts name competencies, such as life span considerations, evidence use or safety, and ask you to address each. Journals are usually 400 to 700 words, written in the first person, and many instructors still expect one or more scholarly citations in APA 7. Write about specific cases and decisions rather than general impressions, and connect each lesson to something you will do differently. A reflection that ends with concrete habits is more convincing than one that ends with a feeling.
How this NUR 602 Module 10 journal example is built
The voice here belongs to a composite urgent care nurse on the way to family practice. The entry starts from a clear starting point, prescribing as matching a drug to a diagnosis, and names the question that replaced it. Three lessons follow, each tied to a case from the course: the 80-year-old whose sleep aid was the real problem, linked to the prescribing cascade; the child whose dose had to become 4.5 mL, and the teenager whose inhaler technique mattered as much as the drug; and the pregnant patient whose uncertain evidence was shared honestly. It closes with three practical questions linked to a deprescribing framework and three APA 7 sources, all short enough to read in one sitting.
Where the NUR 602 Module 10 rubric puts the points
Reflective journals in this course usually earn their points in five places: insight into your own change, links to the modules, a plan for practice, sources and clean prose. The strongest entries show a change in thinking with evidence of how it happened, using specific cases rather than summaries of topics. Linking each lesson to a source shows that reflection is grounded in the literature, not only in opinion. Graders also look for honesty about difficulty or uncertainty, since that shows professional maturity. A clear, practical plan for how the learning will shape your prescribing is usually what places an entry in the top band.
NUR 602 Module 10 help: the mistakes that cost points
Closing journals lose points when they list every topic covered, when they praise the course without showing what changed, when they have no citations or when the future plan is vague, such as promising to use evidence-based practice. Choose two or three lessons, tie each to a case you worked on, support each with a source and finish with specific habits you can describe. Keep a first-person voice and a professional tone. If your prompt asks you to address specific course outcomes or competencies, send it with your notes on the cases you found most useful, and a reflection can be drafted around your own experience of the course and the patients you met in it.
Get NUR 602 Module 10 written to your instructions
Send the journal prompt, any course outcomes it names and a few notes on the cases that stayed with you. A first-person reflection built on those cases, supported by sources and ending in concrete habits, will be ready in 24 to 48 hours, with your first request free. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Southern New Hampshire University document.
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NUR 602 Module 10 questions, answered
Where can I find a free NUR 602 Module 10 Journal sample?
A full entry appears on this page: a closing reflection on prescribing for the person rather than the diagnosis, drawn from three course cases and supported by three APA 7 sources.
What should a final pharmacology reflection include?
A clear change in thinking, specific cases that caused it, links to course readings or research and concrete habits you will carry into practice. Specific examples are more persuasive than topic summaries.
Do reflective journals need citations in NUR 602?
Many instructors expect at least one or two scholarly sources in APA 7 even in a first-person journal. Check your prompt and rubric, since requirements differ between sections and terms.
What is a prescribing cascade?
It occurs when a side effect of one medicine is mistaken for a new condition and treated with another medicine. Older adults taking several drugs are most at risk.
How long should a NUR 602 journal entry be?
Most closing journals run 400 to 700 words. Stay within the length your instructor sets and spend the words on specific cases and plans rather than general statements.