Drug Administration Routes
| Definition: |
The various ways of administering a drug or other chemical to a site in a patient or animal from where the chemical is absorbed into the blood and delivered to the target tissue. |
| Notes: |
GEN & unspecified: prefer specific; NIM |
Drug Administration Routes Categories.
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Administration, Inhalation - The administration of drugs by the respiratory route. It includes insufflation into the respiratory tract. |
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Administration, Intranasal - The administration of drugs through the nasal passage. |
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Administration, Oral - The giving of drugs, chemicals, or other substances by mouth. |
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Administration, Rectal - The insertion of drugs into the rectum, usually for confused or incompetent patients, like children, infants, and the very old or comatose. |
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Administration, Topical |
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Infusions, Parenteral - The administration of liquid medication, nutrient, or other fluid through some other route than the alimentary canal, usually over minutes or hours, either by gravity flow or often by infusion pumping. |
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Injections |
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Instillation, Drug - The administration of therapeutic agents drop by drop, as eye drops, ear drops, or nose drops. It is also administered into a body space or cavity through a catheter. It differs from irrigation in that the irrigate is removed within minutes, but the instillate is left in place. |
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Iontophoresis - Therapeutic introduction of ions of soluble salts into tissues by means of electric current. In medical literature it is commonly used to indicate the process of increasing the penetration of drugs into surface tissues by the application of electric current. It has nothing to do with ION EXCHANGE; AIR IONIZATION nor PHONOPHORESIS, none of which requires current. |
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Phonophoresis - Use of ultrasound to increase the percutaneous adsorption of drugs. |
Drug Administration Routes Definitions and Terms
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