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of Consumer Guide, the Editors. "How to Administer Medication Correctly." 02 March 2006. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-to-administer-medication-correctly.htm> 10 May 2008.
How to Administer Medication Correctly
Inside This Article
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Introduction to Administering Medication Correctly
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To derive the maximum benefit from your drug therapy, you must use your medicine correctly. If you use drugs improperly, you may not receive their full therapeutic effects. Indeed, improper administration can be dangerous, since some medications may become toxic if used incorrectly.
Before administering medications to older adults (that is, people who are 65 years of age or older) or children, ask your doctor for specific instructions. These groups of patients can be more sensitive to dosage amounts and side effects of medications than young and middle-aged adults.
As a person ages, the function of the kidneys, liver, and other organ systems in the body slows down. Compared with younger adults, people over 65 may have a reduced capacity to break down and remove medicines from their bodies. Therefore, it is sometimes recommended that older people receive lower initial doses of drugs and that drug dosages be increased more slowly.
In other cases, a different drug within the same class of medication may be administered because the side effects from the alternative drug may be less bothersome. For example, in the elderly population with diabetes, the oral antidiabetic agent glyburide may be more appropriate than chlorpropamide (another oral antidiabetic agent), which is associated with an increased chance of dangerously low blood sugar in the elderly. In general, physicians "start low and go slow" when prescribing medications and adjusting dosages for older patients.
Infants and children also differ from adults in how their bodies respond to medication. Depending on age and weight, the best dose of a medicine for a younger patient may be different than an adult dose. Accordingly, children may be given lower dosages of some medications (including antibiotics) and higher dosages of others (including phenytoin, carbamazepine, and phenobarbital).
The following sections will delve into the proper administration of various types of medication, including capsules, eardrops, sprays, patches and more. Let's begin with a topical medication -- aerosol sprays.
Inside This Article
1.
Introduction to Administering Medication Correctly
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this How Stuff Works article:
of Consumer Guide, the Editors. "How to Administer Medication Correctly." 02 March 2006. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://health.howstuffworks.com/how-to-administer-medication-correctly.htm> 10 May 2008.
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