Administration of medicines: ways. The introduction of drugs in various ways: the advantages and disadvantages

The medication can enter the body in various ways. The route of administration of drugs is determined by the speed of the therapeutic effect, its severity and duration. In some cases, depending on how the medicine was administered to the body, the nature of its action, and hence our recovery, also depends. There are several basic methods of introducing drugs inside, and each of them has its pros and cons. Before you figure out which pathway to choose, you need to know exactly what forms of medication there are.

Basic Forms of Drugs

Before determining the ways of introducing drugs into the body, you need to know what kinds of drugs exist, and there are a lot of them:

• Solutions - a liquid form of the drug. They are a drug substance diluted in water, alcohol, glycerin or another solvent. But it is worth remembering that a high-quality and non-porous solution must be transparent, no turbid sediment or foreign particles. They can be used for both parenteral and enteral administration.
• Broths and infusions - these preparations are prepared from vegetable raw materials. But it is worth remembering that they are not stored for a long time, no more than 3 days in a cool and sheltered place from the sun.
• Tablets - this is a solid form of drugs, which is obtained by pressing. Basically they are taken orally, but the external route of administration of medicines is also possible, if they are ground into powder.

• Dragee - this is another type of solid form of medicines , they are created by layering the main substance on the granule. Used for oral administration.
• Capsules - a solid form of the drug, is a tablet covered with a shell of gelatin or other substance. Most often capsules contain drugs with a bitter taste or a specific odor, thanks to the shell, the reception of these remedies is much easier. In addition, it allows you to protect the substance from rapid destruction in the digestive tract.
• Candles - a dosage form of the drug, which at room temperature remains in a solid form, but it melts inside the human body. If we consider the introduction of medicines, the ways for the candles are distinguished by two types - rectal and vaginal.
• The plaster is a plastic form of the agent, which under the influence of body temperature softens and easily adheres to the skin. Suitable for external use only.
• Ointments - means of a viscous consistence, use basically for external application. They must contain in their composition about 25% of dry matter.

There are several ways of introducing drugs, we'll take a closer look at each of them.

Types of enteral administration

Enteral route of administration of medicines is considered one of the most convenient and safe. There are several subspecies of this route: oral, sublingual, rectal.

1. Oral administration of the drug, in other words, oral administration is one of the simplest methods, which is why most doctors prescribe it. Absorption of drugs that have been administered in this way occurs mainly through diffusion in the small intestine, in rare cases in the stomach. The effect of application is noticeable after 30-40 minutes. It is for this reason that this method is not suitable for emergency assistance. The speed and completeness of absorption depends on the intake of food, its composition and quantity. Thus, if you drink on an empty stomach medicine, then absorption of weak bases improves, because the acidity in the stomach is low, but the acids are better absorbed after eating. But there are also such drugs, for example "Calcium chloride", which, after ingestion, can form insoluble calcium salts, which limits the possibility of their absorption into the blood.

2. Another convenient and effective enteral route of administration of drugs is sublingual. The medicine is placed under the tongue, thanks to a large network of capillaries in the mucosa, it is absorbed very quickly. The effect comes in a few minutes. This method of administration is most often used for the application of "Nitroglycerin" in angina pectoris, "Clofelin" and "Nifedipine" to eliminate the hypertensive crisis.

3. Rectal path is not used very often. Basically, it is used if the patient has GIT disease, or if he is unconscious.

Enteral administration: advantages and disadvantages

All the ways and methods of administration of medicines have their advantages, they also have the enteral ones:

• Simplicity and ease of use.
• Naturalness.
• Relative safety for the patient.
• Does not require sterility, supervision by the medical staff.
• The possibility of prolonged therapy.
• Comfort for the patient.

But there are also disadvantages of the enteral route of administration of medicines:

• The effect comes slowly.
• Low bioavailability.
• Different speed and completeness of suction.
• The effect of ingestion of food and other components on the absorption process.
• Impossibility of use by patients in the unconscious state.
• It is undesirable to use patients who have abnormalities of the stomach and intestines.

Types of parenteral drug administration

The parenteral route of administration of drugs implies the administration of drugs, without involving the digestive system in this process. It can be divided into several types.

In the fabric:

• Intracutaneously - this method is mainly used for the purpose of diagnosis, for example, on allergic tests of Byrne or for local anesthesia.
• Subcutaneously - apply if you want to get the maximum effect from the drug. This is achieved due to the fact that the subcutaneous fat layer is well supplied with blood vessels, and this promotes rapid absorption.
• Intramuscular - use if subcutaneous injection causes irritation or pain, and also when the drug itself is slowly absorbed.

• Intraosseous - this method is used infrequently, mainly with extensive burns and deformities of the limbs, when other options can not be applied.

If drugs are to be introduced, the way through the vessels is as follows:

• Intravenously , this method is used to administer a large number of drugs and some drugs that have such a requirement for use.

• Intraarterially - used in terminal conditions, which are caused by shock, heavy blood loss, asphyxiation, electric shocks, intoxication and infections.
• In lymphatic vessels - this method is used so that the medicine does not get into the liver and kidneys, in order to ensure a more accurate entry to the site of the focus of the disease.

It is not always convenient to intravascular administration of drugs, ways can also lead through cavities:

• Pleural.
• Abdominal.
• Hearts.
• Articular.

Parenteral administration: the pros and cons

Parenteral administration has several advantages:

• This method allows you to enter the drug bypassing the digestive tract, which is very important for patients with severe gastric pathologies.
• The speed of action is necessary in emergency situations.
• Maximum dosage accuracy.
• The receipt of the drug in the blood in unchanged form.

The parenteral route of administration of drugs has a number of disadvantages:

• The drug must be prescribed by a trained medical professional.
• It requires compliance with asepsis and antiseptics.
• Difficult and even impossible administration of the drug for bleeding, damage to the skin at the injection site.

Inhalation

The inhalation route of administration of drugs allows the use of aerosols, gases (volatile antiseptics) and powders (sodium chromoglycate) in the treatment. With this method of administration, the drugs quickly enter inside and exert their therapeutic effect. In addition, it is easy to control the concentration of the agent in the blood - stopping inhalation leads to a suspension of the drug. With the inhalation of aerosol, the concentration of the agent in the bronchi is very high with minimal systemic effect.

But it is worth remembering that, no matter how effective inhalation, it does not allow the use of irritants. It should also be borne in mind that inhaled drugs can affect others (for example, anesthesia).

Pros and cons of inhalation

We continue to consider ways of introducing medicines. Advantages and disadvantages has an inhalation method. Advantages of inhalation:

• Acts directly at the very site of the pathology.
• The medicine easily penetrates to the site of inflammation, while the liver passes unchanged, which causes its large concentration in the blood.

Ingestion of inhalation:

• If the bronchial patency is severely impaired, then the drug penetrates badly into the focus of the disease.
• Drugs can irritate the nasal mucosa, mouth and throat.

The main ways of drug administration are considered, but there are others, which in some cases can also become irreplaceable.

Rectal, vaginal and urethral routes of administration

If we compare the rectal route of administration of drugs with oral intake, then we can say for sure that the effect of the first method comes much faster. The drug is quickly absorbed into the blood, without being destroyed by the enzymes of the digestive tract and liver.

Rectally, the body is injected with suppositories, ointments, as well as other forms of drugs previously torn to powder and diluted, while using enemas. But it is worth remembering that a solution injected rectally will give effect much faster than a candle. The volume of enema for adults is 50 to 100 ml, and for children - 10 to 30 ml. But this method of drug administration has its drawbacks:

• An inconvenient application.
• Special fluctuations in speed and full suction pattern.

That is why the rectal route of administration is recommended to be used only in cases when oral administration is difficult, when it is necessary that the drug quickly enter the blood, and injections should be contraindicated for one reason or another.

Vaginal and urethral methods allow the introduction of any form of drugs. But both of these methods give the best result if they are used to treat infections in these organs or to carry out diagnostics, for example for the administration of contrast agents such as Yodamid, Triombrast and others.

Spinal and intracranial route of administration

In very rare cases, use spinal and intracranial (suboccipital, subarachnoid, subdural and other) injections. This is due in large part to the fact that the drug should be administered only by a qualified specialist. Such methods require the use of sterile, absolutely transparent, true aqueous solutions with a neutral reaction. The action is very fast.

Transdermal therapeutic systems

Recently, more and more drugs appear in a new form. Transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) - one of them. They are a soft dosage form intended for external use with a slow release of a drug substance. Modern TTS are films and patches made with the use of cutting-edge technologies and are very convenient in application: the adhesive is glued on the skin, and the film is laid on the cheek. In this case, the main substance is absorbed into the blood through the skin or mucous.

Many physicians around the world have recently been paying more and more attention to the newest ways of introducing medicines. Advantages and disadvantages are everyone, including the TTC. Consider the advantages:

• The medicine operates at an accelerated rate.
• The drug enters the blood gradually without interruption, which allows to ensure a stable level of the main substance.
• Unpleasant sensations are completely excluded, this applies to both vomiting and pain from injections.
• Complete absence of undesirable effects from the digestive tract.
• Reduction in the frequency of allergy.
• The possibility of rapid withdrawal of the drug, if suddenly there are contraindications.
• The exact dosage.
• The possibility of point delivery of the drug in the right part of the body.

Each of the described ways of drug administration has its pros and cons. But no matter how good the method is, the main thing is that the doctor must appoint it, and it is desirable that the most complex and rare methods of administration are carried out by a specially trained person in a medical institution. Take care that you do not have to think about how to deliver the medicine inside the body.