title: Are nursing students safe when choosing gluteal intramuscular injection locations?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Nurses are required to perform gluteal intramuscular (IM) injections in practice. There are dangers associated with erroneous performance of this task, particularly with dorsogluteal injections. Knowledge regarding safe injection practice is therefore vital for nursing students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-eight second year students at a New Zealand Nursing School were given schematic drawings of the posterior and lateral aspects of the gluteal region. They were asked to mark and justify the safest location for gluteal IM injections.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-seven students marked the dorsal schematic and one the lateral, with 38 (66.7%) marking in the upper outer quadrant (UOQ). Twenty indicating the UOQ (52.6%) wrote 'sciatic' or 'nerve' in justifying their location. Nineteen (33.3%) marked a location outside the UOQ; nine (47.4%) of these mentioned 'sciatic' or 'nerve' as reasons for injection safety. Overall, 50% of students mentioned 'sciatic' or 'nerve' in justifying the safety of their chosen injection location.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results suggest some second year nursing students do not understand safe gluteal IM injection locations and rationale. Current teaching practices and IM injection techniques could be revisited to prepare students more effectively; this may help prevent pathologies arising from this procedure.
authors: Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, University of Otago.
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Cornwall
keywords: Gluteal intramuscular injection; nursing student; safety
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