Parental Drug Delivery
Parenteral drug administration can be taken literally to mean any non-oral means of drug administration, but it is generally interpreted as relating to injection directly into the body, by-passing the skin and mucous membranes. The common routes of parenteral administration are intramuscular (IM), subcutaneous and IV.
Advantages of parenteral administration:
Advantages of parenteral administration:
- Drugs that are poorly absorbed, inactive or ineffective if given orally can be given by this route
- The intravenous 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 are largely avoided .
- Requires trained staff to administer
- Can be costly
- Can be painful
- Aseptic technique is required
- May require supporting equipment for example, programmable infusion devices