IM Injections

allnurses Guide · Dec 18, 2017

Do you mean like emergency meds?

nina12345 · Dec 18, 2017

Yes :)

allnurses Guide · Dec 19, 2017

If you are giving a lot of emergency meds to one person you want to try as much as possible to rotate sites and go for big muscles. IMHO PO meds work better and faster than injections if you can get the patient to take them. In California we are required to offer the meds PO before we give the injection. That being said my favorite sites for IM injections are the vastus lateralus and the ventro-gluteal these are nice big muscles without a lot of nerves or big blood vessels in the way .

Hppy

Fiddleback · Dec 27, 2017

A lot of times it depends on the situation. Most of the patients I deal with are forensic and will refuse pills. They aren't very happy about the idea of a shot either. It can sometimes take five or six people to hold someone for a shot with me on the bottom of the pile trying to find a place to give it. If possible I prefer the vastus but if the patient is really fighting and kicking the ventricle gluteal is my next choice. Of course in these situations you have to make sure you're giving it to the right person.

Aleonard13 · May 30, 2018

im a new psych nurse, giving frequent IM injections primarily to the deltoid muscles. this is in a community health setting. one of my patients now has a knot from my last injection. no signs of infection, but i'm still monitoring it. He has been used to the previous nurses giving him deltoid injections, but I would like to switch to gluteal injection for a while. any tips on how to have this conversation? my supervisor is not a nurse, so I feel like I have no one to consult. thank you :)

ANY tips for IM injections are most welcome!!!!

deza, MSN, NP · May 31, 2018

In response to the OP I prefer the dorsogluteal. I have seen nurses say they are giving it in the hip(ventrogluteal) when they are actually giving it in the dorsogluteal. I would try to rotate sites like others have said.

im a new psych nurse, giving frequent IM injections primarily to the deltoid muscles. this is in a community health setting. one of my patients now has a knot from my last injection. no signs of infection, but i'm still monitoring it. He has been used to the previous nurses giving him deltoid injections, but I would like to switch to gluteal injection for a while. any tips on how to have this conversation? my supervisor is not a nurse, so I feel like I have no one to consult. thank you :)
ANY tips for IM injections are most welcome!!!!

Are you giving long acting injections?

TerpGal02, ASN · Jun 18, 2018

im a new psych nurse, giving frequent IM injections primarily to the deltoid muscles. this is in a community health setting. one of my patients now has a knot from my last injection. no signs of infection, but i'm still monitoring it. He has been used to the previous nurses giving him deltoid injections, but I would like to switch to gluteal injection for a while. any tips on how to have this conversation? my supervisor is not a nurse, so I feel like I have no one to consult. thank you :)
ANY tips for IM injections are most welcome!!!!

You're talking long acting injections right? I work on an ACT Team and I give lots of long acting IM's. Usually when I'm in a clients home I will casually ask them where we did the injection last time (and I do look it up before I get there) then I casually suggest we use the other arm or glutes if we've been doing a lot of delts. To be fair, I have a couple of very paranoid pets who refuse to rotate site. I have one who's been on Haldol Dec for YEARS, has a huge knot but absolutely refuses to let us inject him elsewhere. IMO in that situation with the pts being as sick as they are, they are better off getting the meds in their body.