Has anyone ever given this IM? I had a patient come in with Group A strep and they were admitted to my unit. The order was to give Penicillin G IM injection. The patient had a PIV so the first thing I asked was if it could be given IV instead of IM. I am a peds nurse and the last thing I want to do is stick a child when I don't have to. I asked the resident about this and was told that the IM was specifically for strep A and due to the concentration and delivery this was more appropriate than IV.
So then it comes up from pharmacy and the med is white and very thick. There was a small air bubble in it and it was so thick the air did not move. It looked a lot like the zinc oxide cream we put on diaper rashes, it was that thick! I showed it to my charge nurse, who had never given it either, and she said it didn't look right and I need to double check it with pharmacy. At that point it was shift change. I hated to pass it on but I did not yet feel comfortable giving that med when it was looking like that. The oncoming nurse agreed it was very thick and she was planning to send it back to pharmacy to verify that it was properly constituted. Not sure what happened with it, if it was always that thick in the vial or what.
Has anyone given this med IM before? Just looking for feedback.
