Injections Flashcards
Syringe Parts
- Tip; where needle is connected
- Barrel; where the medication goes
- Plunger; pressed to administer medication
- Key parts; the tip, the inside of the barrel
- Keep hands off plunger because it goes into the barrel
- Can touch the outside of the syringe and won’t get contaminated
Types of Syringes
1) Luer-lock
- Brand name for a needle-less system
- Can screw the needle directly onto the tip of the syringe
2) Tuberculin
- Hold 1mL and have markings of 0.01mL
- Used for accurate dosing
3) Insulin
- Typically come with needle already attached to them
Measured in units (not mL)
Determining volume in a syringe
- Two rings; bottom and top
- Want to read it from the top ring
Types of Needles
- A lot of syringes don’t come with needles attached; need to add them
1) Hypodermic needle - Creates puncture in the skin
- Slanted hole not round
2) Blunt needle - For drawing up medication from vile and ampules
- Sometimes comes with a filter to ensure glass doesn’t get into it
Needle Parts
- Bevel at tip; creates the slit in the skin as opposed to a hole
- Hub; comes in colours, usually associated with the gage of the needle (the diameter of the needle)
Safety Shields
- Once you’ve used the needle, you flip up the safety shield to prevent accidental injuries
- Some automatically retract
Sizes and Types of Needles
1) IM Adult - 5/8"-1" if <130lbs - 1"-1 1/2" depending on weight - 22-25G Infant and Children - 7/8"-1" - 22-25G
2) SC
- 5/8”
- 25G
3) ID
- 1cm
- 26-27G
Considerations for selecting a needle for injection
1) Size of patient
2) Location of injection
3) Medication you’re giving
Preparing Ampule Injections
- Tap the neck; give it a quick flick to try and get any extra medication out of the lid
- Cover top with alcohol swab; minimize exposure to cutting yourself
- Open away from you; glass shards away
- Use filtered needle
- Dispose in sharps container
- Can aspirate medication with either ampule inverted or on a flat surface; won’t leak due to surface tension
Preparing Vial Injections
- Most vials are single use
- Take alcohol swab, swab the top and let it dry
- Draw air into syringe equal to the amount you want to get out of medication
- Inject that directly into vial; creates a pressure inside and easier to draw out
- After drawing in medication remove any air bubbles by flicking or tapping
Reconstitution
- Diluent or solvent is a liquid used to dissolve a powder (to reconstitute); cannot be stored in a stable liquid form
- Depending on how much diluent we add to a vial, we change the concentration of strength of that solution
- For a multi-dose vial, add date and time reconstituted, amount of diluent added and signature
How to reconstitute
- Cleanse top of vial with alcohol swab
- Draw up the amount of air we need; inject it
- Invert the vial, get liquid back out into syringe
- Clean top of second vial
- Inject the solution (the diluent) into the powder
- Gently roll it around to ensure it is mixed (gently to prevent lots of air bubbles)
What are compatible medications?
Compatible meds can be mixed into one syringe
- Check compatibility chart in drug book or wall chart in med room
- C= compatible
- I = incompatible
- Nothing means not enough information, so act as though incompatible
Principles of Mixing Medications
1) Do not contaminate one med with another
2) Ensure the final dose is accurate
3) Maintain aseptic technique
Mixing Insulin in one Syringe
Principles:
- Do not contaminate one type of insulin with the other
- Inject air in both vials and withdraw the clear insulin first
CLEAR BEFORE CLOUDY
- Clear is usually the fast acting insulin
- Cloudy is usually the slow acting insulin
- Don’t want to contaminate the clear insulin
Steps:
- Inject air into the cloudy
- Inject air into the clear
- Draw up the clear
- Draw up the cloudy
Using Pre-filled Syringes
- Come filled with the medication so you don’t need to draw it up
- Some come with needle, some don’t
- All are a bit different, need to read manufactures instructions
- 10 rights of medication administration
Using Auto-injectors
- Follow manufactures instructions
- May provide practice kits for teaching purposes
- Usually for patient who are anaphylaxis
- “Orange to the thigh, blue to the sky”