NURS 3100 Exam 1 Practice

A nurse administers medication by various routes of delivery. The nurse recognizes which route of administration requires higher dosages of drugs to achieve a therapeutic effect?

1. intravenous route

2. oral route

3. rectal route

4. sublingual route

The correct answer is: intravenous route

The correct answer is A, the intravenous route. Drugs administered via the intravenous route go directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the first-pass effect, which occurs when medication taken orally passes through the liver before reaching systemic circulation. Due to this direct delivery into the bloodstream, drugs administered intravenously often require higher dosages to achieve a therapeutic effect compared to oral medications. Options B, C, and D are incorrect because medications administered orally, rectally, and sublingually do not bypass the first-pass effect to the same extent as intravenous medications, thus typically requiring lower dosages to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.