6

CHAPTER

97

Route of

Administration

The patient has the right to receive the proper medication and have that medica-

tion administered using the best route to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.

The route is based on the form in which the medication is given to the patient.

The best route depends on a number of factors that include the nature of the

medication and the patient’s condition. In this chapter you’ll learn the routes and

how to administer medication using each route.

Medication and Routes

The last time that you had a headache and took an aspirin you were using the

oral route to get rid of your headache. The oral route is just one of 11 different

routes that are used to administer medication.

As the name implies, the oral route means that the patient ingests the medica-

tion. Sublingual and buccal are two other routes that also involve the patient’s

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