Injecting air question

[48273]

Alright, so I was watching some video on how to withdraw medication.We've been taught to always inject air equal to the amount you're going to draw up. But this video said that you do not have to inject air into single dose vials.

which is interesting because i was practicing with those small morphine single dose vials and would inject 1ml of air into it, and i would notice that when i let go of the plunger, it would vacuum itself/plunger would move back as if it were drawing the medication without me doing anything. Which of course throws me off. What gives?

so is this because the air i injected or something else? My partners always inject air into these tiny vials and i havent heard any complaints.

[pmabraham, BSN, RN]

Good day:

Look into why air is injected into multi-use vials prior to drawing up the medication. Then after you know the why, you'll have verification you are on the right track for why single-use vials don't require that process (unless the label / instruction packet states otherwise).

Thank you.

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

I usually never inject the same amount of air unless it is for an insulin vial. The issue with insulin vials is if you don't inject air, it gets harder and harder to draw the med out as more and more is taken out. If you inject too much air into a regular vial, then it could increase the pressure too much.