Injections practice?

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Hi,

my wife is a nursing student and wants to use me to practice injections for some exam. I told her NO WAY! I don't mind the cooking, cleaning, laundry and other stuff but she can't use me as a pin cushion. She needs to practice injections with subcutaneous and intramuscular, which a friend of mine says hurts. She claims it won't hurt that much but she can forget it. Plus she needs to inject it into my stomach! Has she lost her mind?

Anyway is there something else she can pratice on? She says they use pillows at school then during the exam they inject the professor (I take you have to be insane to be nursing profeesor). Can't she practice on herself? How about she uses the dog? Or some sort of dead animal? I'll gladly run over the neighbors cat or a squirrel or something. Or am I being a baby like she says? Can't you kill somebody if you screw it up? Why can't she use the million dollar robo paient they just bought, IStan? I thought that was the whole point of having it.

Anyway thanks. She is doing much better since she took some of your advice (studying in a group has helped a lot), straight A's. But she is really hard worker, so no surprise.

"Can't she practice on herself? How about she uses the dog? Or some sort of dead animal? I'll gladly run over the neighbors cat or a squirrel or something."

Hahahahaha.....:chuckle. That's great. Best of luck in your pursuit of keeping your body puncture-less.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
When I was in nursing school we got to give each other 1 injection in lab. My husband made me go the orange route as he wasn't up for being practiced on and back then I didn't know how to manage him properly.

15 years later I just finished a phlebotomy class and he let me practice on him as needed. I guess my spouse management skills have improved!:chuckle

:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle Love it!

As for how "dangerous" it is to be giving injections without a supervisor.... how many people take insulin or other diabetic medication via injections every day? How many women going through fertility treatments inject themselves with Lupron, etc., every day?

Being a nurse takes specialized training and licensing... doing injections requires little more than the dexterity and comprehension level of a monkey.

Kids in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL can check their own glucose levels, compute their own dosage, and inject their own insulin. If a CHILD can do it, why is it such a big deal for a properly trained ADULT to do it?

This is a surprising conversation for me. IMO injections are a piece of cake. The hardest part of injections really is knowing the data related (size of needle, med details, type of syringe, best site, ect). I could give injections all day long if someone would tell me the right gauge and all that. Worry about those details, because giving the actual injection itself is NOT hard once you know your sites (which you know from a book). Dart it in, dont go slow because it hurts. Make as little a deal about it as possible so not to spook the patient. Know your site markers. Know your gauges. Know which meds are better where. SQ goes in at an angle (45) and IM goes in straight (90) generally speaking, although you can pinch for SQ instead of angling it if necessary.

Did I get anything wrong? Honestly the patient and the injection have always been the easy part. My teacher going nuts over my pre-injection details (how, where, ect) has had me on edge though.

I dont see any point in giving an injection to someone who doesnt need one. Why risk it for someone who doesnt need it? Maybe IVs are different. We dont do those, but with injections, sorry but I am glad we are only giving them to those who need them. (except that poor kid who's stupid mother brought her to the ER when she could have just gone to the DR's office and got a script for PO antibiotics...but I digress)

:) Hi!

I like the suggestion of an orange, but me and some of my nursing school mates used stuffed teddy bears (the really big ones), to give subq and IM injections. I also used a latex glove full of flour. You might think it would spill out, but it actually doesn't make much of a mess at all! :)

Specializes in Wilderness Medicine, ICU, Adult Ed..

Man up you big baby! My first injection was on myself: 0.5 ml normal saline, sterile, I.M. in the vastus medialus (arguably the safest I.M. site in the body). Piece o' cake. I've done more damage picking my teath, for goodness sake!

O.K. I'm just joking about the big baby part. It's your body, so its your call. The rest is true though. I promise that your wife will not be able to kill you with a little normal saline. Then again, there are a lot of nasty things that you can mix into normal saline. How have you and the little lady been getting along lately?

Specializes in psych, corrections, ICU, ER, Neurology.

Oh My. This is nothing more than nursing school craziness. Tell your wife to focus on lecture, i.e passing those tests and less on clinical. She will get all the clinical she can handle when she gets a job.

We practiced SQ injections on each other. You of course have every right to decline, I think the odds of infection are low, but why expose yourself to any risk? Your wife can practice on herself, or she can ask her fellow students who might be willing to trade off being the patient if they can also give injections to your wife. I agree that giving it to a person is a better experience than an orange or a mannequin.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Neuroscience, Home Health Care.

Ummm....did I read the post correctly, that this nursing student wants to do a needle injection into his stomach??? What is that all about???? I'd surely say a heck no to that one, although I have allowed many students to use my veins for practice. But not the stomach!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Neuroscience, Home Health Care.

Does the poster mean that she wants to do abdominal sub-Q injections, or force a needle into the stomach? Not sure if I understand. And she should not be calling him a baby. Needles aren't for everyone and he has the right to say no. Practicing on him at home is not a good idea because it's not a medical setting, there is no licensed personnel around just in case, and I'd like to hope that she would not be using the same needle(s) over and over. Plus, some of the supplies the nursing schools are using are donated expired hospital supplies because they are intended for PRACTICE ONLY with the lab mannequins, but not for practice on humans!!

Specializes in CCU, OR.

When I was in nursing school, we started small IV's on each other, did sub Q's on each other and gave IM's to the oranges.

It's not illegal for a student nurse to give injection once he/she has been checked off by the instructors and is watched while performing the IM's and the IV's.

Having NS injected into your belly doesn't hurt much; I had to give myself both Imetrex and B-12 injections for a very long time. However, I don't endorse her trying that on you or herself until she is practiced at it.

Playing Devil's advocate for a moment, let me remind you that there are a lot of lay people who do give either themselves or loved ones SQ injections on a daily basis, such as insulin, B-12, heparin, etc, after they were taught how to do it one or two easy lessons by a Home Health Nurse. So there is a precedent for home injections after a short amount of training.

Injections of all sorts don't hurt much if you learn how to relax the muscles groups about to be bothered, just an fyi. However, an IM will always leave a bruise no matter how careful one is.

I realise this is kinda rambling, but I'm trying to address a number of thoghts at once.

Specializes in OR, Informatics.

I am in my second semester of nursing school. I lucked out during my first semester - right around the time that I was checking off on IM injections, my mother needed a series of daily Vit B injections for one week. She had a lot more faith in my ability than I did, and for that I will always be grateful. Now injections don't even give me pause (after I check my 5 rights, 3 times, and check allergies and expiration dates, that is). Best of luck!

Theron

In Australian we use sponges covered with latex after it dries it is like skin and fat or there is a medical company on ebay that sells am arm that you can practice. chers

Lainey New Registerd Nurse.... woohoo I passed it all. now just have to get over the nerves.

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