This describes which path the administered medication takes to get into the body or into contact with the body and constitutes part of the where (the other part being site - see below). It is the way in or the course the medication must take to get to its destination. Note that a path is in no sense a description of a *final destination*; it is a stylized description of the path taken. For example, an oral antibiotic may be used to treat a severe infection on a toe; the oral route is used to get the medicine to be able to reach and treat the infection in the toe. For some specific routes of administration there may be an incidental sense of *final destination*, for example an ocular administration usually occurs when treatment of an eye condition is required. However, this is in no sense definitional: rectal administration of a medicine may be for a local effect (a steroid foam for treatment of colitis) or for a systemic effect (metronidazole for treatment of infection). The route of administration of a medicine should only be a description of the path taken and not the form. Examples: * oral * rectal * intravenous (IV) * subcutaneous (SC) * intramuscular (IM)