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Medications

How to give an intramuscular injection

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In Making Synapses you practice it on the patient.

Nursing (NCLEX)EMS (NREMT)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

The site and the needle length decide if the drug reaches the muscle. The ventrogluteal site is preferred for most adults because it is away from major nerves and vessels.

Step by step

  1. Check the rights

    Right patient, drug, dose, route, time and documentation, and check allergies. [1]

  2. Prepare

    Clean your hands, introduce yourself, confirm two identifiers, explain and get consent. [1]

  3. Choose the site

    Ventrogluteal: palm on the hip bone, index finger to the front of the pelvis, middle finger spread back; inject in the V. Deltoid: small volumes, about three finger widths below the shoulder bone. Vastus lateralis: outer middle thigh. [1]

  4. Choose the needle

    Usually 1 to 1.5 inches for adults, based on the site and body size. [1]

  5. Clean and Z-track

    Gloves on, clean the skin and let it dry. Pull the skin about 1 inch to the side and hold it. [1]

  6. Inject

    Insert at 90 degrees with a quick dart, inject slowly (about 10 seconds per mL), wait 10 seconds, then withdraw and release the skin. [1]

  7. After

    Safety device on, no recapping, sharps container. Light pressure with gauze, do not massage. Document and watch for reactions. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in Making Synapses

In Making Synapses you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

Making Synapses cases that train this skill

17 Making Synapses cases train this skill: open the case library

Sources

  1. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Making Synapses is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.