First Injection Experience

Being a nursing student on the maternity/pediatrics floor at PRHC has allowed myself to be involved in many learning opportunities. The learning experience that has been the most influential for me at this given point in placement was giving an injection. At the beginning of placement, I was told by my clinical instructor (Joelle) that my assigned patient needed a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) injection before being discharged from the unit. From researching, an MMR vaccine is given to a mother to immunize them against measles, mumps and rubella. For this injection, I was giving it subcutaneous in the patient’s triceps area. In this event, I was nervous about doing the procedure wrong, and harming my patient. My body felt fidgety, and my heart was racing. Joelle was there by my side, showing me the step by step process on getting the vaccine into the syringe. From the lab in NURS 2021, we had learned how to do this process, so I felt confident in my ability. By using sterile techniques, the MMR vaccine was inside the syringe. She enforced the importance of always triple checking the right patient with the right medication. After this step, it started to dawn on me that I was about to give my very first injection to someone.

 

Joelle told me to stay confident, and she told me to practice saying the steps to her. I practiced pinching the area for the injection, sterilizing it with an alcohol wipe, and giving the injection at a 45 degree angle (I didn’t actually do this, I just said it and somewhat practiced). I know Joelle was confident in my ability to give this injection, or else I wouldn’t have been doing it. Joelle and I went into the patient’s room and I checked her wrist band to make sure she was the right patient, and that she was receiving this MMR injection. I told my patient to breathe deeply, and that this injection may hurt. I pinched the area, cleaned it with an alcohol swab, counted down from 3, and injected the vaccine into her arm. I tried very hard to act confident in my ability to do this, and it was successful. Joelle said I did an awesome job, and that I didn’t come off as someone who didn’t know what they were doing.

 

This experience has really made me confident as a nursing student. I believe the process of giving an injection is what students are afraid of most and I completely understand why after this experience. I think the fact that Joelle was so confident in my ability that I could do this was the reason why I was confident in myself. She was very supporting and encouraging during this process, and I think that is very important when we are students who are learning to be nurses. I went back to my patient’s room afterwards, and asked how she was feeling, and she said her arm was fine, and that the injection did not hurt at all. I think this really assured me that I did a good job. This experience has allowed me to cross another skill off my nursing to be list and really made me feel like I’m one step closer to becoming a nurse.

 

During this experience, Joelle mentioned to me when giving this injection that I should do eye contact to her instead of saying it out loud when I am unsure. Saying it allowed so the patient can hear can make them scared, if they don’t think I know what I’m doing. Anyone can agree that they would like someone who is experienced because being in a hospital can be a scary experience depending on their circumstance. I believe I handle this situation very confidently and professionally which made the patient think I knew what I was doing. The more times you practice, the easier it becomes, and the more confident you will be. This ties into giving injections as it will come easier with time and experience.

 

I can say giving an injection for the very first time is a super scary experience, but afterwards, it was definitely worth the nervousness. I am proud of the amount of pressure that I overcame in order to do this for the very first time. I cannot wait to learn more skills during the last few weeks in this placement. This experience really shaped my perspective on what I am capable of doing as a nursing student. I realize that you have to come out of your comfortable zone in order to get the experiences you are looking for.