Rocephin IM injection sites

[Leighalle]

My problem is that I was told by a provider to give a patient a Rocephin shot of 250 mg in the deltoid. Now since I'm fairly new to giving Rocephin or any medication I was more comfortable giving this as a glute shot to begin with, but the patient kept requesting this shot be in his arm and since it was only 1 mL of the medication plus the patient was a football player with a gigantic deltoid muscle I decided to go ahead and give the patient his shot there. I am now being reprimanded from a coworker saying that I should never give Rocephin in the deltoid it always needs to be in the Glute if I could please just get some feedback as to if I truly did do something wrong to this patient. I was also taught in school that the site of the shots was always permissible for different sites judging by the size of the muscle that the patient has, just like needle gauge.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Unless your facility policy prohibits giving ceftriaxone in the deltoid, the manufacturer's literature doesn't limit injection sites. The point is that you want it given in a big, thick muscle, and the deltoid won't be adequate in most patients, but it sounds like your guy may have been the exception to the rule.

[klone, MSN, RN]

As long as the volume of the medication doesn't exceed the recommendation for the muscle, then it's fine. You are correct - 1 ml of medication is appropriate for a deltoid injection.

While I typically like to give Rocephin in the VG, there's no reason NOT to if the patient wants it in the arm, particularly if they have a large deltoid.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Moved to the Nursing & Patient Medications forum.