1. DRUG ABSORPTION
Team Kester

2. What is the process by which drugs are
transferred from the site of entry into the
body to the bloodstream?

3. Age Groups
Neonate- birth to 1
year of age
Pediatric- 1 to 17
years of age
Geriatric- 65 years
old and up

4. What Factors Affect Absorption?
• Vehicle administration of drug
• Food and fluid taken with drug
• Properties/formulation of drug
• Rate of blood flow
• Stomach acidity
• GI mobility

5. Vehicle Administration of Drug
• Enteral (oral, buccal, rectal)
• Parenteral (Intravenous- fastest
delivery, intramuscular,
subcutaneous)
• Topical (skin, lungs, vagina, ears,
nose, eyes)

6. Enteral
• In geriatric patients, oral medications are often taken
with food to assist with administration

7. Parenteral
• In pediatric patients, intramuscular injections
are avoided due to tissue damage
• In neonate patients, intramuscular absorption is
erratic due to lack of muscle and fat tissue

8. Topical
• In neonate patients, topical medications are
absorbed faster because their skin is very thing
and they have a large body surface area
• In pediatric patients, skin disruptions such as
burns and eczema increase absorption

9. Frequent feeding of infants impedes drug
absorption.

10. Physicochemical Properties/Dosage
Form of Drug
• Liquid and syrups offer a faster delivery
of drugs than enteric-coated tablets
• Lipid solubility, molecular weight and
polarity

11. Rate of Blood Flow
• In geriatric patients, reduced blood
flow to GI tract
• In neonate patients, decreased
renal blood flow
• In pediatric patients, diminished
muscle mass may reduce blood
flow

12. Stomach Acidity
• In neonate patients, variable
gastric pH leads to diminished
absorption
• In pediatric patients, gastric pH is
less acidic
• In geriatric patients, gastric acid
secretin is decreased

13. Gastrointestinal Mobility
• In neonate patients, prolonged
gastric transit time leads to
diminished absorption
• Gastric emptying rates are faster for
pediatric patients than in neonates
• In geriatric patients, gastric
emptying time is increased

14. Why does a nurse need to know
about absorption?
They do not
To know which route of drug administration to use
Both B and D
To make sure medications are given safely
All of the above

15. What Difference Does Absorption Make in
Patient Care
• Provides higher quality health care
• Deliver the right medication in the right dosage to
the right patient type.
• Improves patients experiences
• They are getting the correct drug in the correct form
in the correct dosage
• Increases efficiency
• The correct drug is going to the correct patient
(hopefully without human error)

16. Credits
• RN, Carol Taylor, CSFN, MSN, PhD Carol Lillis RN, MSN Priscilla
LeMone RN, DSN, FAAN Pamela Lynn RN, . Fundamentals of Nursing,
7th Edition. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
<vbk:9781451105957#page(1683)>.
• http://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/clinical_pharmacology/pharmaco
kinetics/drug_absorption.html
• http://howmed.net/pharmacology/factors-affecting-absorption-of-drugs/
• http://www.clinchem.org/content/35/7/1337.full.pdf