Embarassing...

Published

I have been working at our town flu clinic for the past two years...we administered about 820 vaccines between 6 of us a few weeks ago. Our town is relatively small and I found myself administering vaccines to a lot of people I know...Today, a friend of mine's husband announced that he ended up with a HUGE bruise at the injection site - his wife sheepishly admitted that she had a small bruise at her site as well. What happened?! Is this just that a vein was hit? Was my technique totally wrong? Of course, all IM injections were given in the deltoid - I squeezed the muscle slightly before injecting and used a dart technique. Any advice? (It's not fun to see patients you've "mangled" at the grocery store!) Was this just an unlucky fluke? I've not had anyone else complain that this happened with my injection administration before...Help!

I had to go give flu shots at the senior citizens center. Most people were like, "It's already over? I didn't feel a thing!" Then there were some who bowed up and whined and hissed like I was killing them.

Some people are just whiners and expect perfection. The first one they want to blame is the nurse. Don't accept responsibility for this, it isn't your fault.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Ortho.

Some people just bruise easily. I know I bruise with every shot, every time I get blood drawn. Heck...often when I am changing I notice new bruises on me, I bruise that easily! All I have to do it bump up against something, LOL. I think the husband was just being a baby. Blame you instead of making himself look bad. Don't worry about it.

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Specializes in OB, NICU, Nursing Education (academic).

Don't beat yourself up.....it's likely that the person is on some type of blood thinner. I take ASA everyday and bruise every single time I get an injection or have blood drawn (good technique or not).

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Wow, now I'm curious what the arms of my pts look like after IM injections.

I do "dart" technique, and I get compliments about how they "didn't feel a thing" etc. Of course, I don't see them again after that....

I do tell them while I am doing the alcohol wipe, that the more they can concentrate on relaxing that arm muscle, the less they will feel it--and it's true. Had a guy tense up at the last second--and he felt it :)

Regardless, I know I gave the right med, right pt, right route, etc. etc. :nurse:

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