What size needles for IM injections?
What size needles for IM injections?
Intramuscular injections are administered at a 90-degree angle to the skin, preferably into the anterolateral aspect of the thigh or the deltoid muscle of the upper arm, depending on the age of the patient (Table 6-2). The needle gauge for intramuscular injection is 22-25 gauge.
Can you use an 18 gauge needle for IM injection?
Because the progesterone in oil is thicker than the water-based medications, some nurses order 18-gauge 1.5-inch needles to withdraw it from the vial. This needle can be intimidating due to its large size, but is only used to draw up the medication. You will use a 22-gauge 1- or 1.5-inch needle to do your injection.
What is the best needle size for intramuscular injection?
Intramuscular injections go directly into a muscle. 7 Muscle is deeper than the subcutaneous layer of skin, so the needle used for intramuscular injections must be thicker and longer. 20 or 22 G needles that are an inch or an inch-and-a-half-long are usually best.
How do I choose a needle for injection?
The optimal needle length to choose would be 25 mm. For the subcutaneous injection, the needle size should be 1/3 of the tissue, about 10 mm. The correct needle to choose is the 10 mm, to inject the right tissue, to get the right effect of the medicine and reduce the risk of injection site reactions.
Is 5/8 needle long enough for IM injection?
A standard 5/8 inch (16mm) needle would not have achieved sufficient penetration for true deltoid intramuscular injection in 17% of men and nearly 50% of women in the study population. For men weighing 59-118 kg and women of 60-90 kg it may be safer to use a 1 inch (25mm) needle.
What happens if an IM injection hits a blood vessel?
You may feel pain and stiffness in the muscle. When a blood vessel breaks, scar tissue or blood clots can form and if a blood clot starts to wander and reaches the heart or lungs, the consequences can be life-threatening. Injections that hit an artery can be particularly dangerous.