Displacing the skin for Z-track injection
Discomfort and tissue irritation may result from drug leakage into subcutaneous tissue. Displacing the skin helps prevent these problems.
Why to do it
By blocking the needle pathway after an injection, the Z-track technique allows I.M. injection while minimizing the risk of subcutaneous irritation and staining from drugs such as iron dextran. The illustrations below show how to perform a Z-track injection.
How to do it
To begin, place your finger on the skin surface and pull the skin and subcutaneous layers out of alignment with the underlying muscle. You should move the skin about 1'' to 2'' (2.5 to 3.5 cm).
Insert the needle at a 90-degree angle at the site where you initially placed your finger. Inject the drug and withdraw the needle.
Finally, remove your finger from the skin surface, letting the layers return to normal. The needle track (shown by the dotted line) is now broken at the junction of each tissue layer, trapping the drug in the muscle.
