Nursing

Instructions: 2.3 contact hours will be awarded for this activity. A contact hour is 60 minutes of instruction. This is a Learner-paced Program. Vindico Medical Education does not require submission of the quiz answers. A contact hour certificate will be awarded 4–6 weeks following receipt of your completed Registration Form, including the Evaluation portion. To obtain contact hours:

1. Read the article, “Affecting Change Through Continuing Education: Improving Vaccine Administration Technique,” on pages 395–400, carefully noting the tables and other illustrative materials that are provided to enhance your knowledge and understanding of the content.

2. Read each question and record your answers. After completing all questions, compare your answers to those provided within this issue.

3. Type or print your full name and address and your Social Security number in the spaces provided on the Registration Form. Indicate the total time spent on the activity (reading article and completing quiz). Forms and quizzes cannot be processed if this section is incomplete. All participants are required by the accreditation agency to attest to the time spent completing the activity.

The practice of aspiration before administering intramuscular immunization has been identified as causing increased pain. The latest evidence shows that this is no longer best practice. Some nurses believe that aspiration is necessary for patient safety. An education session was provided to 150 participants, most of whom were community health nurses attending an immunization conference. Nurses were invited to complete a pre-education questionnaire on current knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to the administration of intramuscular immunizations as well as a posteducation questionnaire to identify changes in knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs. On the pre-education questionnaire, 32.4% of respondents indicated that injecting slowly causes the most pain during intramuscular immunization. On the posteducation questionnaire, 94.2% indicated that injecting the vaccine slowly caused more pain than injecting the vaccine swiftly. After the education session, most of the participants showed an understanding of current best practice recommendations for aspiration during the administration of intramuscular immunizations.