NCLEX-RN Safe Injection Practice Cheat Sheet (Free Printable)

If you are preparing for the NCLEX-RN, safe injection practice is worth knowing cold. This cheat sheet covers it in two blocks plus a set of pearls. Infection control: hand hygiene with an alcohol-based rub or soap and water before preparing vaccines and between patients, and gloves are not required unless you have open lesions or likely body fluid contact. Preparation: draw up vaccines in a designated clean medication area away from contaminated items, keep multi-dose vials out of the immediate patient treatment area, never mix combination vaccine components in one syringe unless licensed for that use, and discard single-dose vials and manufacturer-filled syringes not used within the manufacturer's time frame. Pearls: use non-live vaccines the same day they are withdrawn or reconstituted, discard activated prefilled syringes at the end of the clinic day, and know that smallpox vaccine is accessed with a bifurcated needle. The exam tests this because safe injection practices are part of your infection control responsibility: they protect patients and health workers. Drill the exceptions until they stick, and note that IM site, needle, and maximum volume data are not included here; follow facility protocol for those.

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Always follow your facility's protocol for injection site, needle, and volume selection.

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