Week 5 - Parenteral Medication Flashcards
What is an example of parenteral medication?
- Intradermal
- Subcutaneous
- Intramuscular
- Intravenous
What is Parenteral Medication?
Administration of medications into the body’s tissue
Why do we use parenteral route?
- Faster acting
- Oral route unavailable:
- Nausea/vomiting
- Fasting, dysphagia
- Trauma, ICU, Operating theatre
- Specific drugs - Insulin
What are the disadvantages of parenteral route?
- Irretrievable nature
- Adverse reactions more rapid
- Pain and discomfort to patient
- Risk of infection
- Risk to health personnel
- Nerve and bone damage
What is a key site?
Could be a portal of entry for
microorganisms to colonise the patient.
- wounds
- IMI
- IV sites.
What is a key parts
Any parts of the equipment which come into contact with procedural equipment or the patient.
- needles
- forceps
- sterile gauze
What are the key parts in a needle
- Hub
- Bevel
- Shaft
What are the principles of intramuscular injections?
- Muscle is less sensitive to viscous & irritating medications
- A lot of blood vessels & nerve endings
- As the needle needs to enter the muscle beneath the subcutaneous tissue by at least 5 mm, a longer needle and 90 degree angle is used
- Faster absorption (approx. 15 min)
- Volume, generally up to 3 mL
What are the intramuscular injection sites?
- Ventrogluteal
- Vastus lateralus
- Deltoid
- Dorsogluteal
What are the landmarks to locating the deltoid site?
- Fully expose the upper arm and shoulder; ask the patient to relax their arm by bending it at the elbow
- Locate the acromion process (Knobby part of
shoulder) - Position fingers as shown in image; the top one on the acromion process the bottom 3-5cm down
- The lower of the 4 fingers forms the upper border of
the deltoid injection site - Draw an imaginary line from the axilla across the
upper arm. This line is the lower border of the deltoid injection site. - Draw an imaginary upside down triangle between
these 2 borders. - The injection site is within this triangle.
What is the recommended site of intramuscular for newborns and under 12 months?
Vastus Lateralis
What are the landmarks to locating the vastus lateralis?
- Divide the area between the greater trochanter of the femur and the lateral femoral condyle into thirds
- Identify the middle third
- The injection is given on
the anterolateral aspect of the thigh
What is the dorsogluteal site?
- Thick gluteal muscles of the buttocks
- Not recommended due to risk of striking the sciatic
nerve, major blood vessels or bone - Not suitable for older patients, emaciated, very obese patients
What are the muscles associated with the ventrogluteal site?
- Gluteus Medius
- Gluteus Minimus
- Gluteus Maximus
What are the landmarks to locating the ventrogluteal injection site?
- Heel of hand on the greater
trochanter - Thumb pointing toward the
persons groin - Point index finger to the
anterior superior iliac spine - Stretch middle finger toward on the iliac crest
- Area between two fingers,
about knuckle length, is the
injection site - The area between the two fingers is the injection site
