What gauge needle for subq heparin do you use?

[evarunnr]

I am looking for input on heparin injections.

What gauge needle to you use for heparin injections? 23g, 25g, 27g, or 29g?

Does your hospital supply 29 gauge needles to attach to the syringe?

Is there data that demonstrates less pain, bruising, and bleeding with the 29gauge needle?

Have you transferred heparin 5000unit/ 0.5ml to an insulin syringe for adm. comfort?

[loriangel14, RN]

I attach a 27 gauge. We don't have 29s.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

For SQ heparin, I use whatever is the smallest gauge needle we have--I forget the exact gauge right now. I never use an insulin syringe for anything except insulin.

[ParvulusPuella]

27g. Same gauge as our insulin needles.

[kap15]

My hospital uses insulin needle.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I used the smallest needle available, which was a 25 or 27 gauge.

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

Blunt tip needle

[BeenThere2012, ASN, RN]

Blunt tip needle

What? you are joking, right?

[Nursynursenurse, ADN, RN]

All we have are insulin needles. 25 or larger seems gigantic for subq.

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

I have always used insulin needles.

[FurBabyMom, MSN, RN]

I work in the OR, so I can't really speak for how our floors handle this dilemma. Our pre-op draws the heparin out of the vial (carpuject style vial) and into a syringe with a spring loaded safety needle. I can't remember correctly what gauge that needle is and I would assume our floors handle heparin the same way. We rarely give heparin in the OR. When we do sometimes our anesthesia provider gives it, others the circulating nurse does. I generally have a syringe adapter for the carpuject vial (and they come in some of our drug boxes), so I add a 25 or 27 gauge needle and administer it. Patients are almost always under anesthesia when they get heparin in the OR. We have very few safety type hypo needles in the OR and the ones we do carry are not always stocked in each room (most of the time our hypos are opened and used on the field). Heparin is generally a pain to admin in the OR - it's almost always a pre-entered order and a "pre-op" order. Because we're not putting the med into the chart the same way as the other meds given in the OR (charting the other meds we give in the OR generates basically a PRN order and they do no get routed through pharmacy for review) we have to override the barcode scan. Anything scheduled or routed through pharmacy is a pain - if the cases get off schedule we have to get pharmacy to re-time the order and it's a pain (this applies to chemos, exparel, heparin, some pharmacy compounded special request meds).

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

What? you are joking, right?

LOL depends on whether or not I like the patient. When I worked in-patient I'd use a TB syringe and needle if they were stocked. Otherwise it was a 1/2" 25 gauge needle. Which is what was readily available.