Since everyone’s body is different and we all have different sizes in muscle, fat, bones and even blood vessels and the location of those could vary slightly from person to person, how do doctors know exactly how deep to inject a syringe.
In: Biology
Doctors are trained and practice giving injections. By the time they are giving patients injections they will have already practiced doing so on each other during their schooling.
Injections into fat are usually called “subcutaneous injections” and they are given into the fat layer just under the skin. Doctors can monitor how deep they are injecting to make sure it reaches the proper depth, and while people’s bodies vary it is the rare person who is going to have no fat under their skin.
Injections into muscle are called “intramuscular injection” and they typically target large, easily identifiable muscles. For example if they are injecting into your shoulder they are targeting your deltoid muscle, which is pretty big and recognizable target. People’s bodies vary but unless they are massively deformed they are going to have a deltoid muscle in the same location, and the same goes for all the muscles into which injections will be given.
Bones only very rarely will receive injections but if they do it is very easy to distinguish bone in the body. Skeletons are fairly standard layout as well so locating the desired bone isn’t going to be a big problem.
Blood vessels are the most variable target of injections and they require the person administering the shot to locate a suitable vessel (typically a vein) for injection. Standard practice for this is to restrict blood flow out of the vein with an elastic band which will cause the vessel to bulge and become more visible on the surface of the skin. Everyone’s blood vessels are slightly different but the big ones tend to be in the same general locations, and professionals are trained how to recognize and locate them.
. Injections are given with different length needles. Intermuscular and subcutaneous. For an inter muscular injection, the injection should go in 1 inch. If the patient is thin, we just don’t put it in as far. We want it in the muscle and sometimes we have to squeeze or pinch up the muscle gently to have enough tissue. Subcutaneous injections only go in a few millimeters and we can also pinch up then if needed.
Well you’ve got a bit of a false assumption there.
Everybody’s body is slightly different, but the layout is almost always practically identical.
So doctors can use common landmarks on the body regardless of size, fat, and muscle composition to guide injections.
Why do you think they are required to pay malpractice insurance? You would be surprised how many accidents or bad medical care that result from this are.
Practice. Lots of practice. On simulators, their fellow students and family members. By injecting at an angle, it’s easier to stay within certain depths of the skin.
Certain areas of the body have more fat than others. Certain areas have muscle. By pinching a skin fold, they can make sure the pinched area is mostly fat and inject into the fat.
They can also find veins by wrapping a rubber band around your arm and have you making a fist. The vein will pop up and they can feel the needle as it enters the vein. Pulling back on the plunger slightly draws blood into the syringe verifying they got a vein. Some areas like the back of the hand have thin skin and little fat so the veins are easily seen.
Latest Answers