A comparative study of depot injection techniques

Depot injections of long-acting neuroleptic drugs, by maintaining a consistent drug regime, together with regular contact with health-care professionals, are an important factor in helping psychiatric patients who live in the community. As these injections are administered over a long period--often for years--it is important that care is taken to minimise discomfort and to reduce the incidence of problems at the injection site. Seepage of even small amounts of the medication will result in an inaccurate dose being absorbed and, owing to the irritant nature of many of these drugs, leakage into subcutaneous tissue and on to the skin surface can cause pain, irritation and lesions. This study was set up to compare two techniques of administering deep intramuscular injections to determine which best fulfilled the criteria of preventing seepage while causing as little discomfort as possible. The two methods used were the Z-track, which is standard practice in the UK, and the air bubble, which is widely taught and used in Canada and the USA. The study showed the air-bubble method to be significantly more effective at controlling seepage than the Z-track.