- Prepare yourself
- Familiarise yourself with the procedure (e.g. anatomical landmarks and potential complications)
- Prepare the patient
- Correct patient; ask patient’s name and date of birth and double check with patient’s name band
- Examine the patient, confirm anatomical landmarks and look for complicating factors (e.g. local sepsis, deformities or scarring)
- Place the patient in the most appropriate position and ensure that the patient is as comfortable as possible
- Prepare equipment
- Consider having the following ready:
- Absorbent blue plastic-and-paper pad
- Dressing pack
- Skin cleaning solution
- Syringes
- Needles
- Sharps bin
| Guage | Hub Colour | Uses |
|---|
| 18G | Pink | Drawing-up needle |
| 21G | Green | Joint aspiration, deep anaesthetic infiltration, most phlebotomies |
| 22G | Blue | Deep IM injections |
| 23G | Black | Deeper infiltration of local anaesthetic |
| 25G | Orange | Superficial dermal local anaesthetic administration, ring block |
- Prepare for the procedure
- Place on the lower shelf of the trolley and put the dressing pack on top of the trolley
- Post-procedural care