A study to assess the extent of intramuscular injections among inpatients and outpatients in a tertiary care hospital in Jammu and Kashmir
Baby Annie A
Problem: The study was conducted to assess the extent of intramuscular injections among inpatients and outpatients in a tertiary care hospital in Jammu and Kashmir. The objectives of the study were to find out the monthly load of injections prescribed in the inpatient and outpatient department of the tertiary care hospital, and to estimate the percentage of intramuscular injections administered to the inpatients and outpatients of the hospital.
Materials and Methods: The approach used for the study was a quantitative approach, a record based cross sectional retrospective study conducted at a tertiary care centre in Jammu & Kashmir. The hospital is a 780 bedded referral centre with bed occupancy of about 550-600/day and caters directly to about 40000 population of defense personnel, ex-service men, and their dependants. The treatment book of all the in-patient and out-patient facility of the hospital were analysed for six months to find out the type and rate of injections administered. The obtained data was analysed using frequency and percentages.
Major findings: The average monthly admission of in-patient department was found to be about 1400-1450, and the average monthly OPD attendance was about 1500. On analysis of the data, it was seen that the total number of parenteral injections given in the hospital was 9740 per month, of which about 55% injections given in the outpatient department and 24% of the injections given in the inpatient department were intramuscular injection. About 88% of injections were administered in the inpatient wards and only 12% were given in the outpatient departments. Almost 96% of inpatient and 98% of outpatient injections composed of intravenous, intramuscular and subcutaneous route of administration. About 17% of IPD patients and 4% of OPD patients received injections daily, and the frequency of injection was calculated to be 0.08 per person per year. One in every 16 outpatient received an injection. The average duration of hospital stay was calculated to be 3 days with a bed occupancy rate of 74%.
Conclusion: The study found that almost 55% of the outpatient and 24% of the inpatient injection prescriptions are intramuscular in nature. More than 96% of injections in both inpatient and outpatient departments are intravenous, intramuscular and subcutaneous injections which are exclusively administered by the nurse. These needle procedures being very common in the health care setting, need to be as safe and as pain free as possible so as to improve patient satisfaction and compliance to health care services.
Baby Annie A. A study to assess the extent of intramuscular injections among inpatients and outpatients in a tertiary care hospital in Jammu and Kashmir. Int J Adv Res Med Surg Nurs 2024;6(2):27-30. DOI: 10.33545/surgicalnursing.2024.v6.i2a.191