Intramuscular Injection Processes

Injections can cause some anxiety if you've never done them before, but it's quite easy once you've done it a few times. Let's talk about the process.

First, review the video for a general overview: 

Next, review the entirety of our additional context & process instructions below, prior to your first injection. If you have additional questions not answered below, contact us to clarify.

Medication:

This does not need to be kept refrigerated. In-fact, warming up your vial via a minute in clean hot water before injecting (then drying & cleaning it) can help to reduce discomfort after.

Preparation:

Wash your hands. Place all the materials you will need within easy reach in a clean place free of distractions. Clean the top of your vial with an alcohol prep pad. Assemble your syringe while avoiding letting anything touch the tip of the syringe where it connects to the needle, or the bottom of the needle where it connects to the syringe. Pull the plunger back to suck in air equal to your injection amount. 

Hold the vial upside down, insert the needle, depress the plunger to inject the air into the vial, then pull back the plunger to have the appropriate dose of medication in your syringe. Withdraw, recap, and set aside your syringe. Clean the desired injection site with another new alcohol prep pad in a circular motion from the center outward.

Injecting:

When selecting an exact injection spot in the area that you’ve cleaned, avoid any visible surface veins. This should hurt, but only slightly - muscle doesn’t have nerves throughout. If something feels very painful or wrong, it is likely that you’re going through/near a vein which does have many nerves. With practice, most injections do not cause much discomfort.

In this video, the patient’s hands shake a bit and he jams the needle in rather fast one-handed. We advise using a second hand to steady the syringe. Insert the needle to a depth that you’re sure is below any fat the area might have, deeper is usually better (1/2in-1in). Keep one hand on the syringe at all times, removing one to begin slowly depressing the plunger. The slower you inject, the better it will feel later (a fast 5 seconds vs a long 30 seconds).

Once your medication is fully injected, wait a few more moments & pull the needle back out the exact angle that you inserted it in. With all of this, slow & controlled is the goal. Cap your needle (do *not* put the cap on via pressing on the top, use the sides, you may use too much force & break the plastic sticking yourself otherwise). Place a bandage on your injection site. We advise continuing to sit/not use your injected muscle for 15 minutes after. Although you are fine to move as needed, letting the medication have time to “spread out” will be better for your muscle and decrease discomfort.