New Nurse-IM injections question

[stacey914]

Hi All,

I am a new nurse that just started a new job. It's in a chiro office so it's a lot of administrative stuff but I will also be doing alot of b12 injections. They had me giving 3mls of B12 in the deltoid today. I came home to brush up on my injections skills and realized I should not be giving more than 1ml in the deltoid! I'm assuming their past nurses have been doing this also or I'm sure it would have been brought up...Anyways, my question is-Is is OK to give 3mls in the deltoid? No one complained of it hurting today. Also, isn't b12 supposed to be given in a z track method? How the heck do you do the z-track method on the deltoid easily? Thanks in advance for any help!

[judy tan]

i experienced the same case with you...my senior asked me give im diclofenac 3 mls in deltoid...after go back and i

realized i should not be giving more than 1ml in the deltoid! what would happen to the patients ? i really worried!!!

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

According to Prentice-Hall, 0.5-1mL is the standard volume for injecting into the deltoid, but no more than 3mL.

Also, the Z-Track method is more appropriate for the larger muscles, such as the ventrogluteal or vastus lateralis. For the deltoid, I would use the air lock method. Aspirate 0.2mL air into the syringe so that when you give the injection, the air pushes all of the med into the tissue and creates a little air lock, preventing the med from leaking out.