Principles of drug administration: Rad Tech

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The principles of drug administration are used in healthcare settings to safely prepare and administer drugs during imaging procedures.
As a radiologic technologist, your understanding of medication safety principles is essential for ensuring accurate dosage, preventing medication errors, and protecting patient safety within the imaging environment.
As a member of the healthcare team, you'll also follow procedural guidelines designed by your healthcare facility. The 5 rights of drug administration are considered the golden rules of safe drug administration.
Following these principles helps reduce medication errors and protect patient safety. The rights are right drug, right dose, right patient, right time, and right route.
The right drug begins with carefully reading the label every time a drug is handled. Some medications have names that look or sound alike, so it's important to verify the label at 3 separate checkpoints when the medication is removed from storage, when it's prepared, and again before the container is returned.
Medications that are not in its original labeled container, or a medication that's expired, should never be used. The right dose means the medication is measured accurately and verified against the medical record before administration.
Any unused medication should be discarded according to your facility's policy and never returned to the original container.
The right patient is confirmed by checking a minimum of 2 patient identifiers. These are often determined by your facility and can include asking the patient their name and birth date while also checking the medical record number or identification wristband.
If any information doesn't match, the procedure must stop until the discrepancy is corrected. Once the patient is properly identified, explain the medication and how it will be used during the procedure.
The right time is verified by comparing the medication order with the scheduled administration time. After a medication is given, the patient should never be left unattended because reactions can occur quickly.
So you'll need to recognize signs of mild, moderate, and severe allergic reactions to the medication. The right route ensures that the drug is given through the ordered route.
Common routes may include oral, intravenous, intramuscular, or subcutaneous administration. And each route requires proper technique and safety practices.
Safe drug administration also depends on understanding the common units of measurement in medical abbreviations. The most common units of measurement you'll see are liters, milliliters, grams, milligrams, micrograms, and kilograms.
Because medications are often prepared and administered in very small amounts, careful attention to measurement is essential.
Healthcare providers often write a medication order using abbreviations related to timing and route. For example, PO means a drug is administered per os or by mouth, while Q2H means a drug is administered every 2 hours.
However, some abbreviations are considered unsafe because they can easily be misread. For example, the abbreviation U or U, meaning unit, should not be used because it can be mistaken for zero.
To reduce the risk of errors, your healthcare facility will use standardized abbreviations and may require certain terms to be written out completely.
Now let's switch gears and look at the various routes of drug administration. The major categories of drug administration are enteral, topical, and parenteral.
Entero administration involves the gastrointestinal tract and includes oral, sublinguinal, buccal, and rectal administration.
Oral medications are swallowed and absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract. Patients receiving oral medications must be conscious and able to swallow safely.
Never leave a patient unattended while they're taking an oral medication, and always confirm the medication has been completely taken.
Sublingual administration involves placing the medication under the tongue, and buckle administration places the medication against the mucous membrane of the cheek.
With both of these routes, the drug dissolves and is absorbed into the bloodstream. Lastly, rectal administration is used when oral administration is not possible.
Topical administration involves applying a drug directly on skin or mucous membranes. These drugs come in forms such as creams, gels, sprays, ointments, or transdermal patches.
Gloves should always be worn when handling topical medications to prevent accidental exposure. Parenteral administration refers to medications given by injection rather than through the gastrointestinal tract.
Common parenteral roots include intradermal or ID. Intravenous or IV, subcutaneous or subcue, and intramuscular or IM.
These routes are often used when rapid drug administration is needed, or when other routes are not practical. Parenteral administration often requires vena puncture, which is the process of puncturing a vein to gain access to the bloodstream for medication administration.
Because these procedures involve contact with blood and body fluids, standard precautions must always be followed to reduce the risk of exposure to bloodborne pathogens.
When establishing IV access, many facilities use an angiocah, which is a safety device where the needle retracts into protective housing after the plastic catheter has been advanced into the vein.
Once the catheter is in place, it can be used for medication administration. Safe parental administration also requires familiarity with the supplies and equipment used during venal puncture and drug administration.
Different procedures may require different needle sizes, syringes, or delivery systems. Throughout the venal puncture procedure, medication preparation, and drug administration, strict aseptic techniques and infection control practices must be maintained.
Proper hand hygiene, safe handling of needles, and adherence to standard precautions help protect both the patient and healthcare workers from infection and injury.
Finally, accurate documentation is also an essential part of safe medication administration. After administering a medication, record the drug, dose, route, date, time, and any relevant patient responses that you observed.
Complete documentation supports communication among healthcare providers and helps ensure continuity of patient care. All right, as a quick recap, Safe drug administration in the imaging environment depends on following the five rites of medication administration, understanding common measurements and abbreviations, recognizing the major routes of drug administration, and maintaining strict infection control and documentation practices.
As a radiologic technologist, your attention to detail and commitment to safety, all play an important role in preventing medication errors and protecting patient care.
Principles of drug administration: Rad Tech: Video, Causes, & Meaning | Osmosis