Hey everyone, it's Sarah with RegisteredNurseRN.com and in this video we're going to talk about medication administration routes and their abbreviations. So let's get started. As a nursing student or new nurse, you want to be familiar with these abbreviations because you know you may be on the floor and you may hear some other nurse say, oh the physician ordered that PO or I need to give this IM or IV or sub-Q etc.
And you want to be familiar with how that route is used to administer. medications. Now one thing you want to remember about abbreviations like whenever you're documenting or you're taking orders is that you're using approved abbreviations set by your employer. Most employers will have a list of abbreviations that you can use whenever you're documenting or taking orders because some abbreviations can have multiple meanings and they want to prevent medical errors.
And if you're ever in doubt about an abbreviation, you can always just write it out. First, let's talk about medication administration routes that do deal with the mouth. So a very popular term you're going to hear in nursing is PO. And PO simply stands for a Latin term called per os. And what this means is by the mouth through the mouth.
And this is a very popular way to give medications. We give many tablets, capsules, and liquid medications through this route. Then we have the sublingual route and the abbreviation for this is SL. So sub means under and lingual means tongue. So we give the medication underneath the tongue.
Now a medication you may encounter as a nurse that goes under the tongue is like nitroglycerin. So if your patient's having acute chest pain and it's ordered, you can give them a nitroglycerin tablet and hopefully that'll help relieve their chest pain. Another route we can give through the mouth is called the buckle route and it's abbreviated B-U-C-C.
And this is where you place the medication in between the cheek and the gum. So we're giving this through the transmucosal route. And some medications that can be be given this way are certain forms of opioid pain medication, smoking cessation products, and etc.
And since we're talking about the mouth, I want to throw this out there. So another popular term that you're going to hear in nursing is NPO. So what this is, is again, it's Latin, and it means nil per os. And that just means nothing but. mouth.
So PO was by mouth but when you put the N in front of it it means that the patient can have nothing by mouth. Now let's talk about medication administration routes where we give the medication directly into the vein. Now to do this the patient is going to need IV access in a vein somewhere usually on their arms and you're going to see a very popular term known as IV and IV stands for intravenous so whenever you're giving anything IV you're giving it directly into that vein through some type of IV access Now some other lingo you may hear about whenever we're talking about the venous route is like IV piggyback and it's abbreviated IV PB.
So with this what we're doing is we have a main line of fluids running let's say it's like normal saline. and then we're going to hang another bag it's going to have shorter tubing and it's going to hence piggyback or connect into that main line of tubing with the normal saline in it and usually what we do this with is like antibiotics and then And another common way we can give directly into the vein is through an IV push. So intravenous push, you may see it abbreviated IVP.
And this is where we draw the medication up in a syringe and we push it into their IV access. Now let's talk about medication administration routes that use an injection or the skin to deliver medication to a patient's body. So one way we can deliver medication is through the IM route.
IM stands for intramuscular and we give many vaccines, even some types of antibiotic and hormone therapy through the muscle. Another route is through the subcutaneous route and this is where we use the fat within the skin's tissue. Now it's abbreviated as sub-Q. So some medications that you will encounter as a nurse that will be administered sub-Q are like insulin or anticoagulants like heparin and enoxaparin which is known as lovinox.
Then we have the intradermal route and it is abbreviated ID. Now this isn't as common as let's say the sub-Q route or the IM route but this is where an injection can be given. into the dermis which is found between the epidermis and the hypodermis. So what can be given this way are like allergy tests or the man to skin test which is the TB test to test for tuberculosis.
And as you can see here in this picture this patient is getting this test and they're giving via the intradermal injection and notice that their skin hence bubbles up it creates a wheel and then lastly we have the transdermal route now this is not given via injection instead something is placed on top of the skin now this is abbreviated as TD so medications that we can give via this route are like medicated patches or ointments that are applied to that top surface of the skin. So we're placing it on the epidermis and it's going to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Now some medications that you may administer like this are pain relief medications like fentanyl patches.
And if you work on a cardiac unit, like nitro cream, like the nitro bib that you can put on the chest to help with chest pain. Now let's talk about some miscellaneous medication administration routes that you are going to encounter as a nurse. So one way is through the inhalation route, so inhaled, and it's abbreviated INH.
Now with these medications that require this, they will enter into the respiratory tract. So any inhaler your patient may be prescribed, or nebulizers like breathing treatments, and you'll see respiratory therapy. administered these types of treatments many times.
Next is the intraosseous route and this is known as the IO route. Now this isn't very common because it's used in emergency situations and this is where access is placed in the marrow of the bone. So they may use this site whenever there's a code blue situation and you can't obtain IV access, it's like failed. so they can give medications and fluids through this route which is going to enter into the vascular system and then we have the endotracheal tube route so if your patient has an endotracheal tube medications can be given through this but this is just for emergency situations whenever access can't really be obtained any other way so what you'll be giving is like emergency type drugs through it and you'll see it abbreviated ett and medications will be instilled through this and they'll be absorbed through the alveoli and will cross over into the bloodstream. Now only certain medications can be given through this breathing tube and how you can remember it is you can remember the word LANE.
So lidocaine, atropine, naloxone, epinephrine and diazepam. The I's are also another route that can be used to administer medications. Now whenever using this route you'll want to write out the word I and you want to designate which I like the right eye the left eye or both eyes. Now they no longer recommend using the abbreviations OS, OD, or OU to abbreviate for this route because it can get confused with other routes. In addition, the ear can be used as a route of medication administration as well.
And just like with the eye, it's best to write this route out and designate, is it the right ear, the left ear, or both ears. Before, AS, AD, and AU were abbreviations used for this route, but that is no longer recommended. Medications can also be given through the rectum, and you can see this abbreviated RECT or PR. PR stands for... per rectum.
In addition, medications can be ordered vaginally. So you may see this abbreviated VAG or PV and PV stands for per vagina. Medications can also be instilled in the nose, so nasally.
So the patient can have some type of medication ordered nasally where you would just squirt the prescribed amount in each nostril. And lastly, medications can also be administered through some type of tube like a feeding tube. So one way is through a nasogastric tube. You may see this abbreviated NGT. And this is where a tube is inserted through the nose, down into the esophagus, and into the stomach.
And another popular way is through a PEG tube. PEG stands for percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy. And this is where a tube is inserted surgically.
So they insert it through the skin and it sets inside the stomach. Okay, so that wraps up this video on the different types of medication administration routes and their abbreviations. Now, don't forget to access the free quiz that will test you on this material.