injection technique

This is what I tell the students in my injection workshops:

TEN TIPS FOR EASING THE PAIN OF INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTIONS:

1) Select the correct needle size

2) Engage the patient in conversation and tell them what to

expect

3) Ask the patient to be as still as possible

4) Grasp the injection site firmly to reduce the discomfort

5) Distract the patient right before giving the injection

6) Insert the needle at a 90 degree angle

7) Dart the needle quickly on insertion

8) Stabilize the needle

9) Inject solution slowly

10) Remove the needle in one quick smooth motion

I do the quick dart. But I tell my patients to "take a deep breath, blow it out, take another deep breath, blow it out." I have always had compliments on the technique and they really like having something else to think about.

So is there anyone out ther who does insert the needle slowly?

If your patient has experience with shots, ask THEM how they want it. Once in a while I will have a patient ask that I do it slowly but in my practice that is the exception not the rule.

Kat

Originally posted by fiestynurse

This is what I tell the students in my injection workshops:

TEN TIPS FOR EASING THE PAIN OF INTRAMUSCULAR INJECTIONS:

1) Select the correct needle size

2) Engage the patient in conversation and tell them what to

expect

3) Ask the patient to be as still as possible

4) Grasp the injection site firmly to reduce the discomfort

5) Distract the patient right before giving the injection

6) Insert the needle at a 90 degree angle

7) Dart the needle quickly on insertion

8) Stabilize the needle

9) Inject solution slowly

10) Remove the needle in one quick smooth motion

These ten steps should be in every nursing text book. Excellent information.

If you are giving an IM don't forget to aspirate !!

I was taught to give the shot differently ,not to hold the syringe like a dart,but to grasp the entire syringe with 4 fingers,like your making a fist over the syringe,then inject,but its more like your making a stabbing motion rather than a darting motion,then with your thumb of the same hand holding the syringe aspirate.

I have a question,when I give dorsal gluteal shots,I still mark out the landmarks,finding the trocanter,the posterior superior illiace and the illiac creast. I guess I should just start eye balling where the shots should go,like everyone else,but Im afraid of hitting the sciatic nerve,am I being to paranoid?

you should not give injections through tattoos if it can be avoided... Why? the needle can damage some very expensive artwork, that often has to be fixed...AND, remember, the ink sits in the epidermis, and some people can react to it if its forced down further... if it has to be done, use the smallest needle, and excellent technique cleaning the site... (had a friend get a case of cellulitis after an injection... blistered up, and lost a big part of a nice tattoo...)

and I also agree with the fist over the needle, inject with the thumb... tends to work best for people withj leather skin... and, i di still look for landmarks before I give an injection... safer that way.

--Barbara

painful or not, it depends on the type of medication you're about to give , the amount and the type of needle...

I think technique is the least, becos everyone has different technique on how to give injection..

if you're in tropical countries and give quinine injection for severe malaria...make sure to give it slowly..it's 10 mls...... But for 0.5, 1,2, mls fast is great.....as for powder antibiotic ...slowly but not tooooooo slowly..who wants needles sticking out for more than 30 sec.....

But in the tropics, like they used IMI often, and the antibiotics are powdered , it is recommended to give it slowly, and watch out for reactions like anaphilactic shock

and always, upper outer quantrant...

ta

:D

I use the dart techinque also. I don't usually pinch the skin unless the pt is really thin, or frail. Then after aspirating, I inject the medicine. The rate of injection depends on the type of med I am giving. I always tell the pt when I am actually injecting, because most people don't like to be suprised. If someone is standing, and I am giving an IM injection, I have them turn their feet in towards each other and place their weight on the side I am not injecting. Helps draw their attention to something else. :eek: I have also been on the receiving end of injections, and I prefer the quick route.