The effect of the application of manual pressure before the administration of intramuscular injections on students' perceptions of postinjection pain: a semi-experimental study

Abstract

Aims and objectives.To evaluate the efficacy of applying manual pressure beforeintramuscular injection and compare it with the standard injection technique interms of reducing the young adult student’s postinjection pain.Background.The administration of intramuscular injections is a procedure per-formed by nurses and one that causes anxiety and pain for the patient. Nurseshave ethical and legal obligations to mitigate injection-related pain and thenurses’ use of effective pain management not only provides physical comfort tothe patients, but also improves the patients’ experience.Design.Comparative experimental study.Methods.This study was conducted with first-year university students (n=123)who were scheduled for hepatitis A and hepatitis B vaccination via deltoid muscleinjection. Students were randomly assigned to the groups. Comparison group stu-dents (n=60) were given an injection using the conventional method, that iswithout manual pressure being applied prior to the injection. The experimentalgroup students (n=63) received manual pressure at the vaccination site immedi-ately before injection for a period of 10 seconds. The two techniques were usedrandomly. The subjects were given pressure to the injection site, and perceivedpain intensity was measured using Numerical Rating Scale.Results.Findings demonstrate that students experienced significantly less painwhen they received injections with manual pressure compared with the standardinjection technique. The postinjection average pain score in the comparison groupwas higher than that in the experimental group (p<005).Conclusions.This study’s results show that the application of manual pressure to theinjection site before intramuscular injections reduces postinjection pain intensity inyoung adult students (p<005). Based on these results before the injection, applyingmanual pressure to the adult’s intramuscular injection site is recommended.Relevance to clinical practice.Applying pressure to the injection area is a simpleand cost-effective method to reduce the pain associated with injection.