BMJ  2006;332:795 (1 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7544.795

Letter

Gluteal injections in increasingly obese population

Needle length for intramuscular injections

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

EDITOR—Nisbet concludes that longer needles should be considered for gluteal injections in an increasingly obese population.1

What is a longer needle? In the fifth edition of the Royal Marsden Hospital Manual of Clinical Nursing Procedures the authors suggest the following needle lengths, based on patient weight, for gluteal intramuscular injections2:


Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text)
 

31.5-40.00 kg: 2.5 cm needle 40.5-90.00 kg: 5-7.5 cm needle > 90 kg: 10-15 cm needle. They cite Lenz.3

Brian J Anthony, lecturer

Middlesex University, Archway Campus, London N19 5LW b.anthony@mdx.ac.uk

Competing interests: None declared.

  1. Nisbet AC. Intramuscular gluteal injections in the increasingly obese population: retrospective study. BMJ 2006;332: 637-8. (18 March.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Mallett J, Dougherty L. Royal Marsden Hospital manual of clinical nursing procedures. 5th ed. Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2000.
  3. Lenz CL. Make your needle selection right to the point. Nursing 1983;13: 50-1.[Medline]

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Relevant Article

Intramuscular gluteal injections in the increasingly obese population: retrospective study
Andrew Charles Nisbet
BMJ 2006 332: 637-638. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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