Question

a charge nurse is reviewing routes of medication administration with a newly licensed nurse when providing care to a client. which of the following routes of administration should the charge nurse include as having the slowest onset of action? intramuscular oral buccal intravenous

Explanation:

To determine the route with the slowest onset of action, we analyze each option:

• Intramuscular (IM) injections have a faster onset than oral as they bypass some digestive processes but are slower than IV.
• Oral medications must go through digestion (breakdown in the GI tract, absorption) which takes time, so onset is slower than IM, buccal, and IV.
• Buccal medications are absorbed through the buccal mucosa (inside the cheek), which is a relatively quick absorption route (faster than oral, slower than IV/IM in some cases but not the slowest here).
• Intravenous (IV) medications enter the bloodstream directly, so they have the fastest onset.

Among these, oral medications have the slowest onset because they require ingestion, dissolution in the stomach/intestines, and then absorption into the bloodstream, a process that takes more time compared to the other routes listed.

Answer:

B. Oral