Discussion: Contraception Treatments
Discussion: Contraception Treatments

Considering the potentially negative consequences of unintended pregnancy for a woman’s health and well-being, effective contraceptive treatments are an important part of gynecologic care. There are a variety of contraceptive treatment methods available for women, including hormonal, barrier, and fertility awareness options. Each method has its own strengths and limitations, and each patient often has individual factors that might also impact appropriateness of use. In your role as the advanced practice nurse, it is important to keep in mind that while you may make contraceptive recommendations to patients, contraceptive selection is a joint decision between the patient and the provider. For this Discussion, consider which contraceptive treatments would be most appropriate for the patients in the following three case studies:

Case Study 1:

A 23-year-old Caucasian female presents with concerns about mood swings around the time of her menses. She believes she has PMS and wants to know if there is medication to control it.

Case Study 2:

A 25-year-old Latina female presents with menstrual cramping that has been getting worse over time. She has never been pregnant and she has one male sex partner. Her gynecologic exam is normal.

Case Study 3:

A 33-year-old Caucasian female is being seen in clinic for contraception. She is using birth control pills, but forgets to take them because her work schedule changes every week. She has been married for 14 years and has two children. She is looking for an effective method that will be easy to remember. She has a history of chronic headaches and hypertension during pregnancy. She has never been treated for a sexually transmitted infection and is in a mutually monogamous relationship. Family history is significant for an aunt with breast cancer. She smokes half a pack of cigarettes per day. She is 5 ft. 8 in. and 215 lbs. Her vital signs are: BP 120/78, p 72, reg.

To prepare:

Review Chapter 12 of the Schuiling and Likis text and the Dragoman et al. article in this week’s Learning Resources

Select one of the three provided case studies. Reflect on the patient information.

Consider an appropriate contraception treatment for the patient case study you selected.

Think about how you might facilitate the selection of contraception treatments with patients who do not agree with your recommendations.

By Day 3

Post an explanation of the contraception treatment that would be most appropriate for the patient in the case study you selected, and explain why. Explain how you might work with patients who do not agree with your recommendations.

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The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.