parenteral medication administration

Question 1

what is parenteral drug administration?

Answer 1

any non-oral means of administration, generally interpreted as relating to injection directly in the body, bypassing the skin mucous membrane

Question 2

what are parenteral routes?

Answer 2

intramuscular (IM)
subcutaneous (SC)
Intravenous (IV)
intradermal

Question 3

what are some of the advantages of Parenteral drug administration?

Answer 3

• Can be used for drugs that are poorly absorbed, inactive or ineffective if given orally
• The IV route provides immediate onset of action
• The intramuscular and subcutaneous routes can be used to achieve slow or delayed onset of action
  Patient compliance problems can be avoided

Question 4

disadvantages?

Answer 4

can be costly
staff needs additional training
can be painful
may require additional equipment, example programmable infusion devices