1: Pre-Injecting Care:
Check the expiry dates of every product:
Make sure that the vial or ampule contains the correct substance you intend to inject.
During the entire preparation procedure, all materials should be kept sterile.
Wash your hands before starting to prepare the injection.
Disinfect the skin over the injection site.
sure that there are no air bubbles in the syringe prior to injecting.
Once the protective cover of the needle is removed extra care is needed. DO NOT touch anything with the unprotected needle.
Once the injection has been given take care not to prick yourself or somebody else.
2: Opening A Glass Ampule:
The proper way to open a glass ampule is to ‘score’ them around the narrowest part of
their neck. To ‘score’ a glass ampule it is best to use a metal knife with small teeth. Occasionally, these are provided with the ampule and these knives work best. If these knives are not provided, it occasionally works to use a fingernail file, grapefruit knife, or a type of kitchen knife with very small teeth. This knife should be rotated around the narrow part of the neck in a sawing motion. After a white line or ‘score’ is clearly evident on the neck, the ampule is ready to be cracked open.
Before cracking the ampule open, it should be placed inside a clean paper towel or a thin clean cotton towel with one hand should firmly grasping the lower portion of the ampule. Your other hand should grasp the very top of the ampule.
A quick snapping motion should cleanly remove the top of the ampule. A needle can then be inserted and the liquid drawn out. Do not try to crack open an ampule without scoring it, or by using your fingers directly against the glass ampule. Occasionally the glass ampule can shatter and this glass can cause a serious cut!
3: Injecting FROM/WITH Ampules:
Step 1: Wash your hands.
Step 2: Place the needle on to the syringe.
Step 3: Remove the liquid from the neck of the ampule by flicking it or swinging it fast in a downward spiraling movement.
Step 4: File around the neck of the ampule.
Step 5: Protect your fingers with gauze if the ampule is made of glass.
Step 6: Carefully break off the top of the ampule (for a plastic ampule twist the top off).
Step 7: Aspirate/draw the fluid from the ampule.
Step 8: Remove possible air from the syringe by tapping the syringe with your finger until the air bubbles disappear.
Step 9: Clean up; dispose of working needle safely; wash your hands.
4: Injection FROM/WITH VIALS:
Step 1: Wash your hands.
Step 2: Disinfect the top of the vial.
Step 3: Use a syringe with a volume of twice the required amount of liquid/ solution and insert the needle.
Step 4: Draw as much air as the amount of solution needed into the syringe to aspirate.
Step 5: Insert needle into the (top of) vial and turn upside down.
Step 6: Expell all of the air from the syringe into the vial to create pressure.
Step 7: Aspirate the required amount of solution and 0.1 ml extra, making sure the tip of the needle is always below the fluid surface.
Step 8: Pull the needle out of the vial.
Step 9: Remove possible air from the syringe by tapping the syringe with your finger until the air bubbles disappear.
Step 10: Clean up; dispose of waste safely; wash your hands.
5: Correct Needle For Liquids:
The muscle or body part you will inject into is not the only deciding factor of which size needle to use, there is another, that being, what type of liquid you intend to inject.
The thicker the liquid, the larger the needle gauge is required. If injecting a thick oil based substance, the smaller the needle, the much longer it will take to draw the liquid from its container, and also to inject it into your body. For example, using a small 30g needle to draw an oil-based liquid into a syringe is virtually impossible to do, much less injecting it into your body.
For newcomers, the needle gauges/sizes might sound confusing. However; simply put, the larger the number, the smaller the needle. For example, a 23g needle is much larger than a 30g needle.
6: Preparing The Injection:
Step 1: Fit a green (21gauge) needle to your syringe.
Step 2: If using a multi-use vial to withdraw from, draw into the syringe a volume of air equal to the amount of liquid you will be injecting.
If you are withdrawing from an amupule, disregard this step and step 3.
Step 3: ‘Inject’ the volume of air that is in the syringe into the multi-use vial so pressure is being created inside the vial.
Step 4: Making sure the tip of the needle is inside the liquid, pull the plunger back until the syringe fills up with the required amount of liquid to be injected.
Step 5: Change the green 21gauge needle with the needle that you will use to perform the injection with:
23gauge 1.25 inch for intramuscular injection into the glutes
25gauge 1 inch for intramuscular injection into the deltoids, trapezius, biceps, triceps and quadriceps
26gauge 0.5 inch for intramuscular injection into the abdominals, calves, pectorals, biceps and triceps
30gauge 0.5 inch for sub-cutaneous injections
Step 6: Expel all air bubbles out of the syringe
Step 7: Inject using a fast dart-like motion. The faster the needle goes in, the less it hurts.
Step 8: Once the needle is all the way inside the body, aspirate by pulling the plunger back.
If blood enters the syringe, it means the needle is inside a vein. Pull the needle out and choose another location.
If no blood enters the syringe, start injecting the liquid. The slower you inject, the less chance of scar tissue and bolus forming exists.
Step 9: After you have injected all of the liquid pull the needle out fast and apply pressure on the injection site with a tissue.
Step 10: Massage the injection location in order to assist the liquid dissipating.
Do not massage so hard that a bruise forms.
Step 11: Dispose of used needles and syringes thoughtfully.