Yikes! Flu Shot!

[ThespinaDiaz]

Just recently I went to my family doctor's office to get the 2015 flu shot. The nurse injected into my arm without swabbing with alcohol. Before I could say anything, she shot my husband too. I know I should have said something, but I just left there silently with my mouth open. BUT, then a few days later I had a blood draw at another facility and mentioned to the phlebotomist that I was given a flu shot without alcohol and she said same thing happened to her at this other facility. She had the wits to ask why no alcohol and the nurse told her, "That's how we do them now, because the alcohol doesn't do anything unless your arm is visibly dirty". What do you all think?? I know shots are given like this in the UK and Australia, but this happened in Colorado. Is this the new trend?

[ixchel]

I did some searching. A public health document from the UK suggests the air bubble creates a temporary air lock the prevents the vaccine from leaking out of the needle track, reducing discomfort. It's a PDF, which Android is weird about, so this link may not work.

These fine folks say:

This is exactly right. For those of us who are crap at z-track method, the bubble helps keep the whole vaccination in, rather than a tiny bit oozing back out. You'll often notice pre-filled SQs like arixtra also come with the bubble.

[canigraduate]

Well, Dogen and ixchel beat me to it. There are many pre-filled medications with an air bubble that explicitly say NOT to squirt the air out.

Lovenox, which I give every shift, is one of them. If you read the administration instructions it will tell you that the air bubble forms a protective barrier to keep the injection within the tissue. Some drug books even say this.

[cayenne06, MSN, CNM]

Learn something new every day! I always remove the air bubble from profiled syringes.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) works by denaturing protein and you get an instant kill. You must, however, do a one minute wet scrub. The IPA must stay wet to do its job. It does NOT have a residual effect like CHG does