Parenteral medications are characterized by which statement?

• A. Enter the digestive tract
• B. Absorbed slowly
• C. Enter the body by some other means, often via syringes
• D. Only topical use

Answer: (C)

Parenteral administration means delivering medications by routes that bypass the digestive tract, typically using a syringe. This encompasses injections such as intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, and intradermal methods, as well as other non-oral routes that place the drug directly into body tissues or the circulatory system. Because these routes do not go through the GI tract, they avoid oral absorption and first-pass metabolism, allowing for rapid or controlled onset depending on the route and formulation. The description that the medication enters the body by some other means, often via syringes, matches this definition precisely. The other statements describe oral entry, slow absorption in a generic sense, or topical use, which do not define parenteral administration.