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Discussion

help! may have needle tip broken in deltoid

I gave a flu shot to one of our elderly clients and hit a bone using a gauge 23 needle. Her arm didn't look quite that thin as compared to the others so I was surprised when I did the "darting" motion during insertion and hit her bone. What's the possibility that the tip may have broken inside when i hit her bone? Would she be showing any symptoms if there was a needle tip left in her arm? I pulled the needle back a tad when it happened and gave the medication. However, I wasn't able to check the needle tip when I withdrew it from her arm! Help! It's all i can think about now!:crying2:

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Plenty of us have hit bone during IMs - but usually the pt doesn't notice and I would think it difficult to break the tip of the needle unless it was extremely narrow/fine guage. Bending the needle would be more likely.

Why could you not check the tip after withdrawal?

You will be alright. The needle is strong, point and all. Take one and see how difficult it is to break the tip.

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I actually did not think about it at that time. I know it sounds horrible but i was more focused on that needle hitting the bone and how much i would pull back to still be able to deliver the medication in the muscle. I also didn't think that it was possible to break the needle's tip until i went online and read through some posts about hitting a bone during injection. Now i keep on replaying it in my head to see if I can remember the tip still being intact. :(

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You will be alright. The needle is strong, point and all. Take one and see how difficult it is to break the tip.

i hope so! I'm spending my day off thinking about it!:uhoh3:

I gave my first IM shot wednesday (im a nursing student). I was scared like hell to hit the bone...but I didnt touch it :D. Anyways, I'm sure it's fine. I messed around with a few needles during lab to see if they break, but all I saw was bending :) im sure you're fine.

Seriously, don't worry about it. I think a direct hit to bone would not remotely shear the tip off the needle. While you may think you're darting in with force, think about the force required to break steel, even thin steel. It would likely take a hammer's hit without breaking.

LOL, heck, with intraosseous needles, you would drill right through the bone and inject directly into the marrow. Seriously, even those regular IM needles are made of stainless steel and most likely wouldn't even be dented or bent by bone tissue. I wouldn't worry about it.

EZ IO:

...or:

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I've obsessed about things like that from time to time the entire time I've been a nurse! It's the "what if I . . ." and the "did I to the ------"(insert thing that if not done will produce the most horrifying consequences) - I really think that if you withdrew the needle and discarded it you would have noticed a broken tip. It's when our conscious mind tries to reconstruct the event we get tangled in knots. Your fear will most likely dissipate in a few days at most. We've all been there!

Krissy29RN,

No offense, but you're not strong enough to break the needle.

I know when I hit bone, it gives me chills! I agree with the others, try to break the tip.

I think the idea that old lady bone broke a steel needle is farfetched. Not to sound glib but there are a lot of people living long lives with all sorts of things like shrapnel, bullets, and whathaveyou living inside them. I wouldn't worry about it.

Highly unlikely, honey. Don't beat yourself up anymore.

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