What is the different kinds of

medicine?
There are three broad categories of medicines - prescription medicines, over-thecounter medicines and complementary medicines.

Prescription Medicines
You can only purchase a prescription medicine if you have a prescription for it
from your doctor. Examples of prescription medicines include contraceptive
pills, antibiotics and strong painkillers.

Over the Counter (OTC) Medicines

Over-the-counter products include cough/cold products, mouthwash and
sunscreen. You don't need a prescription to obtain OTC products. Some OTC
medicines can only be purchased from a pharmacy (chemist), and many are
also available from supermarkets and health food shops.

Complementary Medicines
Complementary medicines (also known as 'traditional' or 'alternative'
medicines) include vitamin, mineral, herbal, aromatherapy and homoeopathic
products. Like OTC products, these products are available without a
prescription.

Point of Entry in administering

medicine?
Routes of administration include:
Oral (mouth)
Nasal (nose, inhaled or applied into nose)
Ocular a/k/a ophthalmic (eye)
Otic (ear)
Sublingual (under the tongue)
Rectal (suppository or enema)
urethral suppository (certain ED drugs)
Transdermal (skin patch/absorbed through the skin)
Injected: IV (intravenous), IM (into the muscle), SC (subcutaneous, meaning, just
under the skin), IC (intracutaneous, meaning just under the top layer of the skin or
within the skin), Intracardiac (into the heart directly), and intraosseous (into the
bone marrow, an alternate route when a person is so dehydrated that IV
administration is impossible)

Inhaled (inhaler spray, nasal spray, or nebulizer)

ungal (toenails)