Can you give a flu shot wrong?

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Today I gave a pneumovax injection in a patient's right arm with no issues. Then as i was giving her the flu vaccine in her left arm she said OUCH very loudly and then proceeded to ask if I had done it correctly or if it would even work now. I think she may have clenched the muscle as I was about to inject the vaccine. I usually push these pretty slowly and amuser I was in the deltoid muscle. Any other suggestions for better technique or other tricks to make people a little happier.

I have heard of nurses failing to give the vaccine while in the flurry of a clinic. They get distracted and give a syringe full of air.

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.
I have heard of nurses failing to give the vaccine while in the flurry of a clinic. They get distracted and give a syringe full of air.

How would a person know that? Can the patient tell? Or did the nurse realize it after the fact?

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I had a nurse tell me that she realized it after the fact. She got startled and told the client, then remedied the situation. I don't see how one would know unless during the injection you perceived that there was no liquid moving in. Pretty hard to see that I would think.

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

YIKES! I would feel pretty awful and terribly embarrassed but I can definitely see how it could happen.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

I've gotten a little sore after a flu shot, and I've given probably 600-700 of them over the years. I usually take tylenol before I get one. Pneumovax never hurt (reminds me I need my old age booster) but let me tell you I got a ZOSTAVAX (shingles) and I thought my arm was never going to quit hurting. She gave it right where my smallpox vaccine was given 60 years ago. I developed a tiny stonehenge of blisters there that took 6 weeks to abate.

But NO as long as you follow proper technique I don't think you will give it wrong. It may be the patient or just the fact the injectate is cold or irritating that leads to the owie!

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My poor daughter got one incorrectly 2 yrs ago (last year, she did the mist). She was only 5 at the time, but apparently the nurse assumed she was going to move (which she did not do), so she injected the medication as she pulled the needle out, giving my daughter a SQ. It swelled badly and was very irritated (much, much more than the normal irritation of an IM; I might have thought she was having an abnormal reaction if I had not seen the nurse do it and known what was going on). I just treated with ice and ibuprofen, but I was really ****** that she had to go through that. Luckily, she's eligible for the mist and prefers it anyway, so we will continue with that from now on.

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