mkfunk

the 'do not aspirate' has been bugging me because i couldn't find where i had read this. however, i found it today in my drug book (davis drug guide for nurses, 8th edition). it states: sc: administer deep into sc tissue. alternate injection sites daily between the left and right anterolateral and left and right posterolateral abdominal wall, the upper thigh, or buttocks. inject entire length of needle at a 45° or 90° angle into a skin fold held between thumb and forefinger; hold skin fold throughout injection. do not aspirate or massage. rotate sites frequently. do not administer im because of danger of hematoma formation. solution should be clear; do not inject solution containing particulate matter. to avoid the loss of drug, do not expel the air bubble from the syringe before the injection. melissa ps. my injection site is still tender and now a beautiful shade of purple.

I am also a nursing student and graduating in May of this year... I asked because I have been taught not to aspirate, and never to expell the air because the air is pushed in last and keeps the Lovenox where you want it. The whole reason that I brought this up was because yesterday, I had personal experience receiving Lovenox... The RN who administered the Lovenox expelled the air, and I flipped! I asked why she was expelling the air and she said you always expell air with injections. I informed her that this was not the case with Lovenox. She was really defensive and said it was not necessary. Further more, she told me as she was injecting into my abdomen that she was aspirating, and that would give me the air bubble that *I wanted*. I was so mad! The injection hurt so bad! I had pain at the injection site for hours. After the injection, the RN basically told me that wherever you go to work things will be different from school, and that's something that I need to learn *right now*. She totally reprimanded me for calling her on it, and made me feel like I didn't know what I was talking about. Grrrr... I'm still mad about. Melissa

I have some questions regarding Lovenox... Do you aspirate? Why or why not? Do you *always* leave the air bubble in? I understand that to avoid the loss of drug when using the 30 and 40 mg prefilled syringes the air bubble should be left in. What about the 60, 80, 100 mg prefilled syringes? I've looked at http://www.lovenox.com and cannot seem to locate information regarding this. Perhaps I'm overlooking it? Melissa