Skip to main content

Blog 2.3- Practice Makes Perfect!


Retractable needle
This has been another productive week for me and I am very excited about it! I have started to learn about how to decide what patients need in certain conditions and more about injections.

This week I took on intramuscular and z-track injections. An intramuscular injection is just simply an injection in the muscle, commonly given in the upper arm. A z-track is a special type of intramuscular injection usually given in the upper thigh. The difference is that when you give a z-track you displace the tissue by pulling the skin to the side and then insert the needle. When you do this, it keeps the medication deep in the muscle and prevents it from resurfacing to the skin. Another difference is that when you z-track, you must aspirate to insure you have not hit a blood vessel. 
Safety needle

I also was able to figure out how to use different types of needles and syringes. One syringe I used would retract the needle when you pushed hard enough on the plunger. I also learned how to use a safety needle. This is a needle that is longer so it has a plastic cover that you can snap on once you are done with it to keep . However, one thing I did not realize is that once it is covered, you cannot take the cover off. Oops!

It has a very busy week for me, but I am so glad I am able to make time for my project. I must say, I am really enjoying every part of it! 

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 11, 2019 at 3:47 PM

    Do you have a fear of pricking yourself? That is something I would be afraid of, even though it is probably unlikely.

    I didn't know there were that many different types of needles. Does the type of needle vary based on what the injection is for and where it is being applied? You mentioned how a different injection is given for the thigh, but does this just mean that the way it is injected is changed?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2019 at 8:05 AM

    This is amazing Amy! I am glad that you are learning something that you will need to know in your future. It is great to have a head start. You may have answered this already, but I forgot. How are you practicing this? Also, where are you getting the materials?

    ReplyDelete
  3. kstradley12February 14, 2019 at 10:25 AM

    Amy, this is awesome that you are learning so much and that you are enjoying this project. I have to agree with Brandon tho, I would be worried that sometimes you could accidentally prick yourself or even worse you might give the patient the wrong meds if you have many needles around you. I hope you have success in furthering with your genius hour project.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog 2.0- Second Time Around!

Welcome back to my blog! This time around I decided to do something related to my future career, so I decided to learn some nursing skills and gain some medical terminology. Some of the skills I will be learning will include simple patient care, giving injections, starting an IV, and possibly delivering a baby. This will be done by using the medical simulations at Miles Community College. I will be learning the medical terminology by using books from the college and online resources. I will also be sitting in some of the college classes, so I hope to be able to learn more by being there. My Shark Tank Pitch was kind of frustrating for me, because I was in a car headed back home from Denver and I had to make a slideshow on my phone. It wasn't too bad until I realized that the service in Wyoming was a little off and on for about two hours. Finally I was able to have enough service to finish my slideshow, I just couldn't add any pictures. When I got home that night I added ...
6 comments
Read more

Week 3- Progress is Being Made!

First of all, I want to tell you all how thankful I am that we had a four day weekend!  Thanks to this amazing, long weekend I was finally able to go out and take more pictures and videos.  I spent a couple of days getting the shots that I wanted, and I think they turned out pretty great! Since the weather was beautiful, I was able to take some nice landscape pictures and videos. One thing I learned this week, was that the sun makes a big difference when you take a picture.  If you look at an object with a camera with the sun behind it, the object will appear very dark and unrecognizable.  I was able to take pictures at different angles and avoid this problem, but if need be, I can take the pictures at a different time of the day. Moving objects are also hard to capture.  We moved cows this weekend, so I brought along my camera and tried to take some pictures of our cows and calves.  I had some luck, but I wish I was able to take some better pictures ...
2 comments
Read more

Week 4- Slow and Steady

I have to admit something, I did not accomplish very much this week. I was in Indianapolis until Saturday and when I returned home I had so much homework I couldn't even function! I did not take any pictures, but I did work on editing them and some of my research. Hopefully this next week will be a little more productive. One of my favorite things about this project is looking through and editing pictures. I enjoy learning about the many artistic ways you can enhance a photo. On most of my photos I enhance the brightness because it makes the landscape look fresher and adds more color to the ugly yellow grass of the fall. I also like to adjust the sharpness on photos of buildings. This adds more details, and makes edges look sharper.  Finally, with my videos I learned how to slow them down and cut them down so I only have the best parts of the video.  I sat down and looked up some great websites on Montana ranching that I plan to use. Along with the websites, I have a...
1 comment
Read more