What To Look Out For In Choosing Type Of Syringe And Needles

The choice of syringe to use in patient matters a lot. It can make the drug administration painless and effective. The wrong choice can have a negative effect.

When most people, especially medical professionals, come to the pharmacy for a syringe, the major thing they consider is the age of the patient. This guides them into their choice of syringe. However, there are several factors to consider before selecting the appropriate syringe for a patient.
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Syringe And Needle

A syringe is a medical device used in the administration of liquid preparation. Some come with a needle. The syringe and needle come in various sizes and designs. Syringe are made of a hollow tube that holds the liquid that is calibrated. A plunger or barrel that draws in liquid and pushes it out is attached. They also contain other basic necessities for the overall performance of the syringe.

Syringe and needle

Needles are sharp points with hollow center metals added to the syringe. The needle comes in different thickness and length. The thickness is called gauge value or diameter. The higher the gauge value, the thinner the needle. Some say the smaller the thickness. On the other hand, the lower the gauge value, the higher the thickness.

Choosing The  Right Syringe And Needle

The right choice of syringe and needle depends not only on the age but on the following.

Syringe Volume

The volume of liquid preparation will determine the size of the syringe and needle. Large syringe holds more liquid. This will prevent the administration of a single injection more times. For example, a patient that needs a 5ml injection may get up to three times injection if a syringe of 2ml is used. In that, a syringe of 5ml or a little above will work well. However, using a syringe as high as 30ml for a 5ml injection can lead to medication error. This is because it will become increasingly difficult to measure accurately 5ml using that 30ml syringe. A little dose difference can be dangerous.

In some cases, giving large volume injection fast can damage the body. To minimize that, large syringes help to reduce the pressure since the plunger has a lot of surface area to apply pressure on before the liquid medication can come out. It becomes easy to control.

Needles Length And Gauge

The route of administration or destination of an injection will determine the choice for the length of needle. There are different routes of administration of injection. Intramuscular (IM), intravenous (IV) and subcutaneous (SC) are few of them . The route needs various lengths of injection. IV requires short length, SC and IM require  longer length respectively.
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The skin thickness is also used to determine the needle thickness. Needle thickness which is also called the gauge size is very important. Thick skin requires a small gauge size or high thickness needles. Children naturally have a skin that is not thick. That is why the needles with a high gauze size or that are not thick are used for them. Adults have thicker skin. To measure skin thickness, squeeze an area in the thigh with your thumb and forefinger and pull away from the muscle. This should include the skin. Then take a ruler and measure. For IM, the needle size should be ⅔ of the thickness of the skin. SC is ⅓ of the needle size.

In Nigeria, the needles that are commonly used are 21G for adults and 23G for children. There may be situations whereby the skin is unexpectedly thicker than normal. Higher thickness needles may be needed. The type of liquid is another thing to look out for. Viscous liquid will pass through a thick needle without impacting on the needles. But that is not the case with needles that are not thick. So oil based injections require thick needles.
So when next you are asked the type of syringe and needle for a patient, get all necessary details for proper prescription.

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