Im Injections

Quick dart NOT slow push..

Some meds actually work better/last longer given IM. I don't like to inflict pain, but I learned early on in my career that sometimes to make a pt better, you have to do something that hurts them (ie: IV, IM shot, NG tube, etc...)

I'm with you.....EW! The worst is giving an IM to a baby, you feel like you're going to kill them! What has worked for me is reviewing my sites and landmarks, and being a stickler for making sure I'm injecting in the right area each time. Delt is my favorite, just because it is easy and not a lot to hurt there :)

Confession: sometimes there is something so nice about giving a drug seeker IM morphine. LOL They don't get the "rush" but they can't complain because it lasts so much longer than IV.

Quick dart NOT slow push..

Bingo!

Personally, I prefer an IM in the butt to an IM in the deltoid, or an IV. I was a skinny child with thin arms. When I received my first IM cortisone injection after 7th grade (I think) for seasonal allergies, I was greatly relieved at how tolerable the IM butt injection was. Aside from the embarrassment (I could make a pun with selective capitalization, butt I won't;) ), these injections never caused much discomfort.

As an allergy sufferer, my immune system is overactive, so I can not comment about penicillin injections. I do not remember ever getting one of those.

Always use the smallest needle possible, length and size. I have actually had patients ask for shots in other places then the delt because they said it hurts later on after the shot.

I'm with you.....EW! The worst is giving an IM to a baby, you feel like you're going to kill them! What has worked for me is reviewing my sites and landmarks, and being a stickler for making sure I'm injecting in the right area each time. Delt is my favorite, just because it is easy and not a lot to hurt there :)

Confession: sometimes there is something so nice about giving a drug seeker IM morphine. LOL They don't get the "rush" but they can't complain because it lasts so much longer than IV.

small gauge needles always seem to work

Remember to stimulate the nerve endings in the area with a massage or moderate pinch just before piercing the skin, this decreases the nerves ability to respond to the injection. Follow with a slow steady injection of the medication and a smooth and quick withdraw of the needle. I give the best shots in any hospital that I work.

Remember to stimulate the nerve endings in the area with a massage or moderate pinch just before piercing the skin, this decreases the nerves ability to respond to the injection.

oooh, good tip, i like that one! what about a little smacksmack like finding a vein?

IM depo provera hurts for days, i (used to) ask for mine not in the deltoid, or i couldn't lift at work...

With really scared kids I've put a cold pack against their butt, held in place by their pants, and they don't feel the needle. I too use the smallest gauge I can get away with, even using 27's sometimes. Something else: meds that come preloaded in a carpuject or similar seem to have dull needles on them. I've transferred those into a syringe and put on a new needle and have had fewer problems with them.

Things like bicillin: warm it before you inject it.

I did see an RN (While i was a student on prac), choose the area, swab and at the exact same time the needle pierced the skin, the RN slapped the skin adjacent to the injection site. A bit barbaric, i thought, especially on little old ladies. But the patient did say it was their best neddle ever... Somehow I don't think this will work too well on kiddies.

I actually learned to give IMs on horses--big hulking stallions, no less, with necks wider than my hips. They were big sissies, though, and got lots of shots, so they would anticipate and lean their necks and bodies into me as I swabbed them for a shot. I learned to hold the needle like a dart, and then tap, tap, tap, them a few times with the flat of my fist and then dart it. They relaxed after the first "tap" and didn't mind the shot going in.

Haven't had to try that yet on a person, but it has crossed my mind!