Intranasal drug administration: an innovative approach to traditional care.

Intranasal drug administration is safe and effective and has many applications to prehospital providers of all levels. Administered drugs do take longer to take effect than drugs administered intravenously; however, the time saved by not needing to establish an i.v. offsets this difference. When evaluating your system's protocols, consider adding IN drug administration, and particularly consider its benefit in patients who may be seizing, hypoglycemic, experiencing a narcotic overdose or in pain.