Which of the following routes of administration would bypass the digestive system?

The administration route that effectively bypasses the digestive system is sublingual. When medication is administered sublingually, it is placed under the tongue, where it dissolves and is absorbed directly into the bloodstream through the mucous membranes. This method allows the drug to enter systemic circulation quickly without having to go through the gastrointestinal tract, where it could be broken down by digestive enzymes or metabolized by the liver before reaching the systemic circulation.

In contrast, other routes, such as oral administration, require the drug to pass through the digestive system. Even intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous injections, while they do avoid the digestive tract, still do not deliver medication in as rapid a manner or circumvent hepatic first-pass metabolism as effectively as the sublingual route does. Therefore, sublingual administration stands out as the most direct way to deliver medication into the bloodstream without the influence of the digestive system.