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I can't post in the polls section, so I'm asking here. Have you ever aspirated blood when giving an IM inj?
Of the thousands ( literally, I do flu and hep shots) of IM injections I have given, I aspirated blood once. In that circumstance, I pulled out the syringe and just started over with a new one. It doesn't happen often but does happen so there is a valid reason to draw back when giving IM's. Hope this helps
So glad to find this discussion! As an EMT-I, I was taught to always aspirate IM's and was shocked to find this not being taught in nursing school because I had always understood it to be very important...I actually stopped aspirating because the clinical instructors marked you as wrong if you did it that way! sounds like I should start doing it again...
Hospice Nurse LPN, BSN, RN
1,472 Posts
Always aspirate....never got any blood...yet.