Intramuscular injection: exploring the evidence on effective administration
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Intramuscular injection: exploring the evidence on effective administration

Sherri Ogston-Tuck Senior lecturer adult nursing (retired), Institute of Health & Society, University of Worcester, Worcester, England

Why you should read this article:
  • To update your knowledge of the effective administration of intramuscular (IM) injections

  • To refresh your memory of the vital elements of the procedure such as selecting the appropriate injection site and using the appropriate equipment

  • To understand the importance of patient assessment when undertaking IM injections

Administering medicines by intramuscular (IM) injection is a familiar, though not necessarily common, nursing procedure. To ensure effective administration of IM injections it is important that nurses are up to date with the evidence on factors such as selection of injection site, use of appropriate equipment and injection technique. This article explores the evidence on effective administration of IM injections with the aim of enhancing nurses’ decision-making and technique when undertaking this procedure.

Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12161

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

sherri2@gmail.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Ogston-Tuck S (2023) Intramuscular injection: exploring the evidence on effective administration. Nursing Standard. doi: 10.7748/ns.2023.e12161

Published online: 26 June 2023

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