MENTAL HEALTH Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

MENTAL HEALTH - Essay Example This paper will explore the use of the antipsychotic drug clozapine with a deep insight into the guideline that should be followed in its use in mental health centres. First, the paper will look into what clozapine is and how it works, its dosage and then look into its initiation procedure, observations and side effects. The paper will also look into haematological tests and why they are so important in the monitoring and lastly look into how smoking effect clozapine in the body. What is Clozapine? Clozapine is a drug that belongs to the group of medicines known as antipsychotics, which are mainly used in the treatment of schizophrenia (Castle & Buckley, 2011). Clozapine is a highly regulated drug under the specialised drugs program and is only intended as third line treatment for chronic schizophrenia refractory to treatment with other drugs or drug resistant schizophrenia (Labbate, Fava, Rosenbaum, & Arana, 2010). It is a second generation neuroleptic drug whose availability is tig htly controlled and can only be used when mandatory blood testing and other monitoring can be achieved at the required intervals. Clozapine was first developed in 1958 but was then removed from the market because of its potentially lethal side effects of agranulocytosis also known as neutropenia and was only approved for use in mental health centres 30 years later after a pivotal study demonstrated its efficiency and efficacy in treating resistant schizophrenia (Usher, Foster, & Bullock, 2009). In Australia and elsewhere around the globe, the risk of neutropenia and other side effects necessitated that a standard monitoring system known as the Clozapine Patient Monitoring System be used for all patients under medication with clozapine. Clopineconnect database Clopineconnect is an online database where all consumer blood test results and other essential and relevant information is stored and can be accessed by registered personnel thus making it easier to check compliance with the mo nitoring requirements. If a patient consuming clozapine does not adhere to the treatment requirements or the organisation in charge does not follow the required monitoring protocol, the database will show absence of critical information and the prescription of the medication must cease in accordance with the set protocol until the required monitoring is completed (Usher, Foster, & Bullock, 2009). How Clozapine waorks Clozapine is a very strong drug and should only be used where other medications have failed but it also requires patience as positive effects of the drug may not be realised until 4-6 weeks and the full positive effects may not be realised until 6-12 months where consistency is very important (Lauriello & Pallanti, 2011). Clozapine is very effective in alleviating the normal symptoms of schizophrenia such as social withdrawal, lack of motivation, lack of interest in doing things and lack of energy. It is also very efficient in treatment of hallucinations, delusions, agi tation, unusual thinking, speech and behaviour (Stahl, 2006). Clozapine works through interaction with neurotransmitters, which are used by the cells in the brain for communication. Too much or too little amounts of neurotransmitters in the brain cause abnormalities in behaviour and clozapine works by blocking