Answer :
Final answer:
The dose of IV pain medication is lower than oral medication because IV administration bypasses the first-pass effect. The first-pass effect can significantly reduce the concentration of an oral drug before it enters the systemic circulation. IV medication goes directly into the bloodstream, making it more potent and necessitating a lower dose.
Explanation:
The best response the nurse can give to the patient is: Medications given intravenously are not affected by the first-pass effect.
The first-pass effect (or first-pass metabolism) is a phenomenon of drug metabolism where the concentration of a drug gets significantly reduced before it reaches the systemic circulation. When a medication is taken orally, it is first broken down in the stomach and absorbed by the body in the intestine. From there, the drug must pass through the liver before it enters the rest of the bloodstream. The liver can metabolize some drugs so fully that much less of the original drug makes it out into the circulatory system.
However, with intravenous (IV) administration, the drug is delivered directly into the bloodstream, bypassing the first pass through the liver, and thus, the medication can be much more potent. Due to this, a lower dose of the drug is often required when given intravenously compared to orally. This is the reason why the dose of IV pain medication being given is lower than that of the patient's previous oral medication.
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