Subcutaneous injection pediatrics

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Help!!! I'm very new in the field and found my first job working with pediatric patients. I was giving a subcutaneous injection today and the child moved and while I was able to administer the injection, the needle was bent upon retrieval. I felt so horrified and terrible all day and in wondering has this happened to anyone else? How much harm could that have caused and will the child be ok?

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The child did seem ok and was able to be consoled quickly.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

He'll be fine and you learned a lesson. Needle + Death Grip = Successful Injection

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Probably no big deal.

Lesson learned: Even very calm, self-possessed kids can have a minor freak-out when the needles actually appear. It's always a good idea to have someone else providing appropriate and effective restraint, because you just never know. I had a 5-year old patient once who sat perfectly still during an IV start/blood draw--she watched the whole thing with interest, asked questions, and was just completely wonderful. I also had a 12-year-old who had been hospitalized many times (frequent flyer) who totally freaked out--hit, kicked, spit, and attempted to bite me and the other nurses; we had to get two big burly orderlies from psych to hold him down. You never know.

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