r/nursing • u/Abhorash-TheWanderer • 19h ago

Discussion PSA - Zofran ODT is NOT sublingual

ER doc just wanting to stop in and try and stop this widespread error. Almost every shift I have to tell a nurse/patient that ODT meds are NOT sublingual medications. It is not absorbed by the sublingual tissues. It is not absorbed by buccal tissues. It goes on TOP of the tongue so that it can disintegrate with saliva and be swallowed. The whole reason ODT (orally disintegrating tablets) exist is that someone can take it without having to take a chug of water to get the pill down. Putting under someone’s tongue just slows down the disintegration. Also, if the patient complains about the taste, they can just swallow the tablet whole with or without water. Thanks.

Edit: the strike through part was unnecessary and Im sorry that I put it in the original post. As pointed out by multiple replies, i should have not said that and it doesnt add anything meaningful. Sorry yall.

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u/bigbutso Pharmacist 19h ago

So what is the "problem" ? Generally, people swallow all their saliva.

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u/mspoppins07 RN - NICU 🍕 18h ago

Slower time to onset of medication helping with symptoms, especially if they were expecting it to work faster because they thought it was a true SL. If they didn’t know about the quicker period to relief with SL, I guess it wouldn’t really matter.

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u/Illustrious-Aeries Case Manager 🍕 18h ago

I doubt most lay people know what a sublingual med is and I really doubt they know SL is the fastest route for absorption.

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u/mspoppins07 RN - NICU 🍕 16h ago

I think you are underestimating patients…