HOSPITAL

The route of drug administration is understood as the way in which certain medicinal substances are introduced into the body. The route of administration is chosen by the doctor according to:

• the intended purpose;
• the absorption capacity of the respective path;
• the action of drugs on mucous membranes;
• the need for slower or faster action;
• the body's tolerance to drugs and the anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the body.

Enteral route

The route of administration of drugs through the gastrointestinal tract, also known as the enteral route, is composed of:

• the oral route of administration – the most frequently used modality due to the convenience and the possibility of self-administration. Absorption of drugs after oral administration can take place in the stomach, small intestine and large intestine;
• the sublingual route of administration – the optimal way of administration for drugs with high lipid solubility and active in small doses. The sublingual mucosa is well vascularized and drains blood into the cephalic venous system, and then into the superior vena cava, bypassing the hepatic filter and the effect of the first hepatic passage. This route of administration is frequently used in angina attacks, bronchial asthma, paroxysmal arterial hypertension, etc. Nitroglycerin, isoprenaline, methyl-testosterone, progesterone, pregnane, aldosterone, oxytocin, nifedipine can be administered sublingually.
• the oral administration route – can be useful for general or local action. Oral tablets with slow dissolution up to 4 hours are used for the general action, and tablets with dissolution up to 1 hour for the purpose of local action.
• the rectal administration route - aims to obtain local or systemic effects. For general action, it is used in children, in unconscious or vomiting patients, with oral-pharyngo-esophageal lesions, in patients with gastric intolerance to some drugs (antipyretics, analgesics, antispasmodics, anti-inflammatory, antiemetics, etc.). Rectal blood flow is drained through the inferior and middle hemorrhoidal vein into the inferior vena cava and not into the portal system. This is how drugs administered by this route bypass the liver barrier. In order to obtain the local effect, antihemorrhoidal, antiseptic, purgatives are used.