Today was my first day on the floor with my preceptor (yay!). We had a patient that needed a rhogam injection and my preceptor gave her a dorsogluteal IM. In school we were taught to do ventrogluteal IMs because of potential nerve damage and increased pain. I know dorsogluteal is still commonly done and I have a few questions for you all,

What site do you usually use for Rhogam?

In my drug book it recommends using the deltoid, does anyone use the deltoid for rhogam?

Is potential nerve damage from a dorsogluteal IM less likely in healthy women because of increased muscle mass or subcutaneous tissue or some other reason?

Thanks!

I have heard patients say they've gotten their Rhogam in their delt. I prefer VG for the same reasons you mentioned.

today was my first day on the floor with my preceptor (yay!). we had a patient that needed a rhogam injection and my preceptor gave her a dorsogluteal im. in school we were taught to do ventrogluteal ims because of potential nerve damage and increased pain. i know dorsogluteal is still commonly done and i have a few questions for you all,

dorsogluteal is still used, because some (long-time graduated) nurses have never been taught ventrogluteal. now, however, there are a number of fundamentals texts that do not even mention dorsogluteal as a possibility! you are correct that ventrogluteal is the preferred site for most things because of it's lack of vessels and nerves in the area.

what site do you usually use for rhogam?

ventrogluteal, and that is what is taught to my student's (i'm an academic educator) also.

in my drug book it recommends using the deltoid, does anyone use the deltoid for rhogam?

i don't. but, i suppose it would do no harm since it is a small volume.

is potential nerve damage from a dorsogluteal im less likely in healthy women because of increased muscle mass or subcutaneous tissue or some other reason?

not really...the sciatic nerve is huge (regardless of your muscle mass), and i just avoid the dorsogluteal altogether. some people don't really mark off the site all that carefully either!

thanks!

that's my 2 cents!