IM injection ?

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Hello all. Im a new LPN. Graduated in June just became licensed end of August and have now been on the job for 3 weeks. I gave an antibiotic IM yesterday no issues. Today gave the same patient and im injection opposite arm and got some bleeding and bruising. Towards the end of nursing school I heard the do not aspirate. So I didn't. Now worried that I didn't do it right today but I did it the same exact way. Is some bleeding and bruising normal with im? Please help...

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

Unless you're giving the injection in the dorso-gluteal muscle, there are no major blood vessels and aspiration is not necessary. Further, if you DO aspirate, it should be done over 10 seconds, which most nurses don't do, so aren't even doing it correctly anyway.

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I've given thousands of IM injections, & they do bleed ocassionally; it's not indicative of a problem. I've never seen them after to know if they bruised. This excerpt is from a vaccine site that may give you peace of mind:

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[TD]Do you need to aspirate before giving a vaccination?[/TD]

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[TD]No. ACIP does not recommend aspiration when administering vaccines because no data exist to justify the need for this practice. There are data that show that aspiration is more painful for the vaccine recipient. IM injections are not given in areas where large vessels are present. Given the size of the needle and the angle at which you inject the vaccine, it is difficult to cannulate a vessel without rupturing it and even more difficult to actually deliver the vaccine intravenously. We are aware of no reports of a vaccine being administered intravenously and causing harm in the absence of aspiration.[/TD]

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Ask the Experts: Administering Vaccines

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